Principles of Sound Questionnaire Design
- Clarity and Simplicity: Questions should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. Avoid using jargon or complex language that may confuse respondents.
- Specificity: Questions should be specific and unambiguous, leaving no room for interpretation. Vague or overly general questions can lead to inconsistent and unreliable responses.
- Avoid Leading or Biasing Questions: Questions should be neutral and unbiased, avoiding any influence that may lead respondents to a particular response.
- Logical Order: Arrange questions in a logical and coherent order. Start with easy and non-sensitive questions to establish rapport before moving to more complex or personal topics.
- Response Options: Provide appropriate response options that cover the full range of possible answers. Use balanced scales to avoid skewing responses.
- Avoid Double-Barreled Questions: Each question should address a single issue or topic. Avoid combining multiple questions into one, as it can lead to confusion in responses.
- Pilot Testing: Before deploying the final questionnaire, conduct a pilot test with a small sample to identify any potential issues, including question clarity, relevance, and formatting.
- Skip Patterns and Branching: Use skip patterns or branching logic to tailor the survey based on respondents’ previous answers, making the survey more relevant to each participant.
- Avoid Assumptions: Avoid making assumptions about respondents’ knowledge or experiences. Provide necessary context or explanations where required.
- Visual Appeal: Ensure the survey is visually appealing, with consistent formatting, font sizes, and colors. This can help maintain respondent engagement.
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Characteristics of a Good Survey
- Validity: The survey measures what it intends to measure accurately.
- Reliability: The survey produces consistent results over time and across respondents.
- Objectivity: The survey remains impartial and free from bias, ensuring data integrity.
- Relevance: The survey questions are relevant and meaningful to the research objectives.
- User-Friendly: The survey is easy to navigate and complete, promoting higher response rates.
- Ethical Considerations: The survey respects respondents’ privacy and maintains confidentiality.
- Representative Sample: The survey targets a representative sample to generalize findings to the larger population.
Now, let’s discuss how the “System Usability Scale (SUS)” questionnaire embodies the principles of sound questionnaire design and where it may violate some of those principles:
The System Usability Scale (SUS) is a widely used questionnaire for assessing the usability of systems, products, or services. It consists of ten statements related to the user’s perception of the system’s usability. Respondents rate each statement on a five-point Likert scale from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree.”
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- Clarity and Simplicity: The SUS is relatively simple and straightforward, with clear statements and a concise Likert scale for responses, making it easy for respondents to understand.
- Specificity: The statements in the SUS are specific to the usability of the system, avoiding ambiguity in the context of the assessment.
- Avoid Leading or Biasing Questions: The SUS questions are neutrally worded, free from leading language or bias, ensuring respondents’ unbiased feedback.
- Logical Order: The SUS does not follow a specific logical order for statements. However, as it uses a standard format for all users, the absence of a specific logical order does not impact its effectiveness.
- Response Options: The five-point Likert scale in SUS provides balanced response options, allowing respondents to express their degree of agreement clearly.
- Avoid Double-Barreled Questions: The SUS avoids double-barreled questions by focusing on one aspect of usability in each statement.
- Pilot Testing: The SUS has undergone extensive testing and validation, ensuring its reliability and validity across various contexts.
- Skip Patterns and Branching: The SUS does not utilize skip patterns or branching logic, as it follows a fixed format for all users.
- Avoid Assumptions: The SUS does not make any assumptions about users’ prior knowledge, as it evaluates their subjective perception of usability.
- Visual Appeal: The SUS is relatively simple in its presentation, with standard formatting. While it may not be visually appealing, it prioritizes usability over aesthetics.
Overall, the System Usability Scale (SUS) aligns well with the principles of sound questionnaire design. Its simplicity, clarity, and standardized format contribute to its effectiveness and popularity. However, it may not include skip patterns or branching logic, limiting its ability to customize questions based on individual responses. Nonetheless, for its intended purpose of assessing system usability, the SUS serves as a reliable and valid tool.
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