Developing Written Questionnaires: Writing Questionnaires
By Daniel R. Zalles, Ph.D.

Written questionnaires systematically gather information about a particular phenomenon from a population of people. Writing questions that respondents will understand correctly and answer honestly, and whose answers will permit precise data analysis, leads to an effective questionnaire. This module provides a strategy for writing effective questions.

The objectives of this module are for you to understand:

• The five steps that must be taken to write an effective set of questions.
• Differences among closed-response, open-response, and partially-open response questions and when each is most appropriate.
• How to construct closed-response scales.
• How to recognize and correct common question-writing errors.