Editing Survey methodology (section)

==Questionnaires==
[[File:Questionaire in Thai.png|thumb|A basic [[questionnaire]] in the [[Thai language]]]]
Questionnaires are the most commonly used tool in survey research. However, the results of a particular survey are worthless if the questionnaire is written inadequately.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Questionnaires should produce valid and reliable demographic variable measures and should yield valid and reliable individual disparities that self-report scales generate.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/>

===Questionnaires as tools===
A variable category that is often measured in survey research are demographic variables, which are used to depict the characteristics of the people surveyed in the sample.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Demographic variables include such measures as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, race, and age.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Surveys often assess the preferences and attitudes of individuals, and many employ self-report scales to measure people's opinions and judgements about different items presented on a scale.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Self-report scales are also used to examine the disparities among people on scale items.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> These self-report scales, which are usually presented in questionnaire form, are one of the most used instruments in psychology, and thus it is important that the measures be constructed carefully, while also being reliable and valid.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/>

===Reliability and validity of self-report measures===
Reliable measures of self-report are defined by their consistency.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Thus, a reliable self-report measure produces consistent results every time it is executed.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> A test's reliability can be measured a few ways.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> First, one can calculate a test-retest reliability.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> A test-retest reliability entails conducting the same questionnaire to a large sample at two different times.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> For the questionnaire to be considered reliable, people in the sample do not have to score identically on each test, but rather their position in the score distribution should be similar for both the test and the retest.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Self-report measures will generally be more reliable when they have many items measuring a construct.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Furthermore, measurements will be more reliable when the factor being measured has greater variability among the individuals in the sample that are being tested.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Finally, there will be greater reliability when instructions for the completion of the questionnaire are clear and when there are limited distractions in the testing environment.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Contrastingly, a questionnaire is valid if what it measures is what it had originally planned to measure.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Construct validity of a measure is the degree to which it measures the theoretical construct that it was originally supposed to measure.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/>

===Composing a questionnaire===

Six steps can be employed to construct a questionnaire that will produce reliable and valid results.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> First, one must decide what kind of information should be collected.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Second, one must decide how to conduct the questionnaire.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Thirdly, one must construct a first draft of the questionnaire.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Fourth, the questionnaire should be revised.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Next, the questionnaire should be pretested.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Finally, the questionnaire should be edited and the procedures for its use should be specified.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/>

===Guidelines for the effective wording of questions===
The way that a question is phrased can have a large impact on how a research participant will answer the question.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Thus, survey researchers must be conscious of their wording when writing survey questions.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> It is important for researchers to keep in mind that different individuals, cultures, and subcultures can interpret certain words and phrases differently from one another.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> There are two different types of questions that survey researchers use when writing a questionnaire: free response questions and closed questions.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Free response questions are open-ended, whereas closed questions are usually multiple choice.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Free response questions are beneficial because they allow the responder greater flexibility, but they are also very difficult to record and score, requiring extensive coding.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Contrastingly, closed questions can be scored and coded more easily, but they diminish expressivity and spontaneity of the responder.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> In general, the vocabulary of the questions should be very simple and direct, and most should be less than twenty words.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/>  Each question should be edited for "readability" and should avoid leading or loaded questions.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Finally, if multiple items are being used to measure one construct, the wording of some of the items should be worded in the opposite direction to evade response bias.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/>

A respondent's answer to an open-ended question can be coded into a response scale afterwards,<ref name="Mellenbergh, G.J. 2008 pp. 183–209"/> or analysed using more qualitative methods.

===Order of questions===
Survey researchers should carefully construct the order of questions in a questionnaire.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> For questionnaires that are self-administered, the most interesting questions should be at the beginning of the questionnaire to catch the respondent's attention, while demographic questions should be near the end.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Contrastingly, if a survey is being administered over the telephone or in person, demographic questions should be administered at the beginning of the interview to boost the respondent's confidence.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011"/> Another reason to be mindful of question order may cause a [[survey response effects|survey response effect]] in which one question may affect how people respond to subsequent questions as a result of [[Priming (psychology)|priming]].

===Translating a questionnaire===
Translation is crucial to collecting comparable survey data. Questionnaires are translated from a [[Source language (translation)|source language]] into one or more target languages, such as translating from English into Spanish and German. A team approach is recommended in the translation process to include translators, subject-matter experts and persons helpful to the process.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sha |first1=Mandy |last2=Immerwahr |first2=Stephen |date=2018-02-19 |title=Survey Translation: Why and How Should Researchers and Managers be Engaged? |url=https://www.surveypractice.org/article/3248-survey-translation-why-and-how-should-researchers-and-managers-be-engaged |journal=Survey Practice |language=en |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.29115/SP-2018-0016|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Survey translation best practice includes parallel translation, team discussions, and pretesting with real-life people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Special issue on questionnaire translation |url=https://wapor.org/special-issue-on-questionnaire-translation/ |access-date=October 2, 2023 |website=World Association of Public Opinion Research}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Behr |first1=Dorothee |last2=Sha |first2=Mandy |date=2018 |title=Translation of questionnaires in cross-national and cross-cultural research |url=http://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/view/937 |journal=Translation & Interpreting |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=1–4}}</ref> It is not a mechanical word placement process. The model TRAPD - Translation, Review, Adjudication, Pretest, and Documentation - originally developed for the [[European Social Survey]]s, is now "widely used in the global survey research community, although not always labeled as such or implemented in its complete form".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Quality in Comparative Surveys |url=https://aapor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/AAPOR-WAPOR-Task-Force-Report-on-Quality-in-Comparative-Surveys_Full-Report.pdf |access-date=October 2, 2023 |website=Task Force Report, American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Quality in Comparative Surveys |url=https://wapor.org/resources/aapor-wapor-task-force-report-on-quality-in-comparative-surveys/ |website=Task Force Report, World Association of Public Opinion Research (WAPOR)}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Harkness |first=Janet |title=Cross-cultural survey methods |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |year=2003 |isbn=0-471-38526-3}}</ref> For example, [[sociolinguistics]] provides a theoretical framework for questionnaire translation and complements TRAPD. This approach states that for the questionnaire translation to achieve the equivalent communicative effect as the source language, the translation must be linguistically appropriate while incorporating the social practices and cultural norms of the target language.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pan |first1=Yuling |title=The Sociolinguistics of Survey Translation |last2=Sha |first2=Mandy |publisher=[[Routledge]] [[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-1138550865}}</ref>