Questionnaire design

From Norfolk RCC

Contents 1 DESIGNING A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PARISH PLANS 2 Ideas for gathering this information: 3 Things to consider before starting to design your questionnaire 4 Topics covered by Parish Plans have included: 5 Questionnaire Tips 6 Making sure you get a good response

DESIGNING A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PARISH PLANS

Before writing the questionnaire, it is recommended that you consult your community in a variety of other ways, to gather information on the topics and issues that are important to them. The questionnaire will then be tailor-made for the community and will be a means of finding out more specific details about concerns and suggestions for appropriate actions

Ideas for gathering this information:

• Deliver a letter to every household, asking them to list 3 main issues they would like to be included in the questionnaire

• Hold meetings and information events

• Run a consultation day, with 'hands-on' activities such as putting ideas on paper flags, & sticking into a large-scale Parish map; pin-boards to indicated preferences; display of photos of village features.

• Visit local groups such as WI, Church, Sports, Village Hall Committee, Young People's Groups

• Visit older people and housebound residents

• Visit schools and provide them with a consultation pack of photocopiable resources

• Approach people in local shops and post office

• Leave suggestion boxes in public places

Things to consider before starting to design your questionnaire

• Are you going to provide one questionnaire for use by all age groups or will there be a separate set of questions for young people?

• Will you provide each household with one questionnaire and will there be space for more than one person to comment on the form? Or will you provide a separate questionnaire for each adult and child in every household?

• Will you use a computer software package to assist you in designing the questionnaire (and for analysing the data received) or will you create your own from scratch?

• How will you ensure that the information gathered through the questionnaire is anonymous?

• Will you record who has received/returned a questionnaire?

• How will you distribute and collect your questionnaire to get maximum coverage and increase your return rate?

• How will you reach groups that are hard to reach?

• Who will be responsible for data entry and report writing?

• What have you found out already regarding issues and concerns in your community?

• What extra information do you need, in order to get a better understanding of these issues and of suggested actions?

• Are there any other topics which have not presented themselves through early consultation, but which could represent significant issues for the community in the future?

Topics covered by Parish Plans have included:

• How Information is shared within the community

• Village Hall improvements

• Affordable Housing needs

• Involvement of Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams in the community

• A Neighbourhood/Home Watch Scheme

• Good Neighbour Schemes

• Road Traffic control

• Recycling & Community Composting projects

• Renewable Energy schemes

• Community Events & Festivals

• Recreation & Sport Facilities

• Footpaths & Access to the Countryside or Services

• Facilities for Young People and Children

• Services for Older People

• Health Care

• Land use

• Shops and & other Services

• Public Transport Provision

• Jobs & Local Economy

Questionnaire Tips

• Include an Introduction to explain what the questionnaire is for and how it will be used, when it will be collected and by whom, and/or instructions for returning.

• Make all questions relevant to your community.

• Don't include more questions than you need to. [A typical parish plan questionnaire is between 50 and 100 questions long] Ask yourselves, "Why do we need to ask this question? - What will we do with the information?"

• Make your questions specific. For example, rather than asking, "Do you often use the Playing Field facilities?" you could ask, "How often do you use the playing field facilities?"

Daily

Once a week

Once a month

Less frequently

• Get somebody who has not taken part in writing the questionnaire to proof-read it. Does it make sense to them?

• Try out the questionnaire on a small control group first.

• Make the layout attractive and easy to read.

• Don't express your own feelings in the wording and don't include personal comments or suggestions in relation to any individual or group.

• Avoid asking leading questions. Where appropriate, give a variety of options, with the opportunity for original ideas

• Ensure respondents have the necessary knowledge to answer. If they may not, begin your question with an explanation or offer options such as “Don’t Know” and “Not applicable”

• State whether you expect single or multiple responses – “tick one box only” or “tick as many boxes as apply”

• Provide tick ranges for numerical items such as age and how long have you lived in the village etc e.g. "0 to 5 years" "6 to 10 years"

Making sure you get a good response

• Use local volunteers to deliver and collect the questionnaires by hand. Local people collecting in their own area are more likely to get a good response from their neighbours

• Offer help for those who may have difficulty filling in the questionnaire

• Provide collection boxes locally

• Include a return address on the questionnaire

• Offer to wait while they fill in the questionnaire if required

• Provide an online version

• Offer a prize - provide a raffle ticket to every individual who hands in a completed questionnaire