Step 2: Order questions to maximize interest (I) and maintain logical flow (I).

(I) = instrument example

From the viewpoint of the respondent, the response to each item is influenced by the items before and after it. There are two general considerations for shaping the order of questionnaire items.

A) Begin the questionnaire with items that are easy, appropriate for all respondents, and central to the main topic; put sensitive items at the end. The respondent's reaction to the first few items usually determines whether he or she will try to complete the questionnaire. It is important to begin with one or more items that all respondents can answer. Thus, if you are asking teachers about their instructional resources, you wouldn't start with questions about computers because only some teachers may use computers. In addition, the questions should be easy in the sense that respondents should not have to obtain a lot of information to generate answers.

The initial questions should pique the respondents' interest and engage them with the questionnaire. Begin with items asking for opinions on matters likely to be of interest to them. For example, if you are interested in teachers' instructional resources, you might ask first how satisfied they are with the instructional resources available at their school, since they are likely to have strong feelings about the matter and will welcome the opportunity to express their opinions. For the same reason, do not start the questionnaire with items about background characteristics (e.g., number of years teaching), because such questions, although easy, will not engage them much. Save them for later in the questionnaire.

After items most central to the topic are presented, subgroupings of items more narrowly focused or less central to the topic should follow. If the questionnaire includes questions to which respondents may be especially sensitive, such as salary information, they should appear near the end because respondents are less likely to quit when nearly finished.

B) Group items into logical subtopics while maintaining interest. Deciding how to order all of the items for a questionnaire requires balancing several concerns. On the one hand, respondents typically give more meaningful answers if questions flow in a logical order, with items on a given subtopic grouped together. On the other hand, if there are too many items in a row about one subtopic, respondents may lose focus and motivation.

Therefore, one needs to find a middle ground between asking questions in a completely random order (likely to frustrate respondents) and asking too many narrowly focused questions in sequence (likely to make them lose interest). If one ends up with too many items in a subtopic, one solution is to try to reduce redundancies by crafting more inclusive wordings or eliminating less productive items. Also, if items in a subgroup share the same response categories, an items-in-a-series format is efficient (see Figure 1).

How often are students likely to engage in the following activities during a typical lab activity in your classroom?   Always Sometimes Rarely Never Students discuss results within their lab groups Students seek out results of other lab groups Students summarize and present results to the rest of the class

Figure 1. An example of an items-in-a-series format.

If many (say 10 or more) similarly focused items are unavoidable, then it's worth experimenting with breaking these items up into smaller groupings. Pilot-testing the questionnaire (see Step 5) with alternative groupings of items should provide useful guidance.