OERL : PD Modules : Writing Questionnaires : Strategy : Step 2

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Strategy

Step 2: Compose first drafts of the questions that correspond to your list of goals, and identify what they are supposed to indicate about the phenomena being investigated.

The first drafts should constitute your first attempt to articulate a purpose in question form. Behind every question on a questionnaire should be an intent to capture some information that indicates something about the phenomena you are investigating. Focus on capturing your intent, not on producing a fine-tuned question with the best format and verbiage. The following table shows examples of first drafts of sets of questions that proceed out of the example used in Step 1.

Phenomenon being investigated	Purpose of questions	Indicators	First drafts of questions
logistics	To understand whether any logistical problems related to the operation of the tools may have gotten in the way of use of the tools	crashes ease of installation varying behavior	How often did the tools crash? Were the tools easy to install? Did the tools behave differently with different operating systems?
teacher capacity	To gauge how capable the teachers were in implementing the use of the tools	amount of prior training helpfulness of the training comfort level with the innovation	How much training did you receive about the tools? Did the training help? How long did it take you to feel comfortable teaching with the tools?
user-friendliness of the innovation	To gauge how quickly the students were able to master the tools' interfaces in order to apply them effectively to specific problem-solving exercises	understandabilty of user interfaces length of orientation time	Did students have any problems with the tools' interfaces? How long on average did it take before students could use the tools in their problem-solving exercises?