As simple as it may seems, most students find it difficult to form a good research questionnaire for a research project work.

        Every academic environment has their format for the design of a research questionnaire; at times this might not be an order from the school but the choice of the supervisor.

        There are different ways of forming a good questionnaire for research purposes; this depends on the type of project/research topic a final year undergraduate student is working on.

        Before a project student will be able to form a good questionnaire he/she must be able to understand her project topic, then decide on the kind of question he/she will like to ask his/her respondents.

        I want to use this opportunity to educate students on various types of questions for different types of questionnaires

Types of questions for questionnaires:

1. The Dichotomous Survey Question
2. The Multiple Choice Survey Questions
3. Rank order scaling question
4. The rating scale question
5. The semantic differential scale question
6. The staple scale question
7. Constant sum survey questions
8. Open ended survey question
9. Demographic survey questions

The nine types of questions are used for different purposes but except number nine (9) because almost all questionnaires most have demographic questions.

        Let me briefly explain these types of questions for questionnaire before going into details on how to form a good questionnaire.

For the Dichotomous Survey Question, this is the “yes” and “No” kind of questionnaire where you only seek two types of response from your respondents; mind you the type of questionnaire depends on your objectives of study.

The Multiple Choice Survey Questions is the type of questionnaire that tries to explore various findings. For example:

In what way can a pregnant woman take care of her pregnancy?

1. Feeding properly as required
2. Having a good rest
3. Soft exercise
4. Going for antenatal
5. Staying a conducive environment
6. Learning from other pregnant women

There is another kind of questionnaire called the rank order scaling questions, the kind of question have parent responses and sub-responses in side them.

The rating scale kind of questions is normally used when a final year project student is trying to rate a particular event; most at times in service packaging. Take for instance the question below:

How will rate the cultural event at the tourism center calabar?

1. Very pleasant
2. Pleasant
3. Normal
4. Unpleasant
5. Very unpleasant

The semantic differential scale question is used when a research student is trying to find out the likelihood of an occurrence; for example: do you think the super eagles of Nigeria will qualify for the 2018 world final?

1. Likely
2. Maybe
3. Very unlikely

The staple scale question for questionnaire is used for descriptive purposes; for instance in a research project work; an undergraduate student may wish to choose from a particular group of software that will suitable for describing a particular outcome; and maybe he/she needs to make his or her preference from the responses he/she received from the respondents. Below is the type of question that is necessary for such survey.

Why do you prefer the SPSS 20 to SPSS 16 software for data analysis?

1. SPSS 20 describes very well
2. SPSS 20 accommodate more variables
3. Preferred not to answer
4. SPSS 16 describes poorly
5. SPSS 16 describes very poorly

Because of time factors I wouldn’t want to go into explaining all the types of questions but let me quickly explain how a standard questionnaire should look like. 

        A good project standard questionnaire must start with a kind of cover letter to gain the audience confidence. The cover letter must contain the name of the researcher, his or her institution, his/her department and the information he/she seeks to find. Below is the sample of a good research questionnaire:

Appendix A: Questionnaire

Hello.

My name is uniprojectmaterials.com; I am a student of Research College, in the department of human resource management. I am conducting a research on human resource management as a tool in achieving high productivity in an organization: a case study of Dangote group.  I am hoping to have a few minutes of your time to fill out this questionnaire.  The main purpose of the research is to explore the human resource management as a tool in achieving high productivity in an organization: a case study of Dangote group in gboko, Benue state

There are eleven questions in this questionnaire with each question to be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response.  If you would prefer not to answer the question or do not have a view, there is also a relevant box to be ticked for the response.  Please place a tick (“√”) mark on the box for your response. 

Please tell me if you have any other questions about the research or in how to fill in the questionnaire.  On completion, please just hand back the form to me.  I have not asked for any personal details as I want to keep the responses anonymous.  The results of the questionnaire will be kept confidential and will only be made available to those directly involved in the research.

Profile of Respondent

 

1.   Are you indigenous to Benue State?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

2.   What is your age?

 

16-25 yrs. old	26-35 yrs. old	36-45 yrs. old	>45 yrs. old	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

3.   What is your profession?

 

unemployed	student	unskilled labour	professional	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

4.   Have you benefitted directly or indirectly from Dangote group?

 

Yes, directly	Yes, indirectly	No	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

Start of Questionnaire

1. Human resource Activities

 

Q1. As a member of staff of Dangote group do you think the improvement in the human resource department will enhance the organisational achievement?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

Q2. Has the level of productivity in Dangote group increase since the employment of HR?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

Q3. Do the activities of the human resource manager has significant effect on the management decision?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

 

 

Q4. As a human resource manager have you face any challenge working with Dangote group?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

Q5. Does the human resource manager have a role to play in employees’ retention?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

Q6. Are the services of the human resource manager useful to Dangote group?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

Q7. Is there any improvement in the area of job description since the engagement of the services of the human resource manager in Dangote group?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

 

Q8. Is the human resource management department active during recruitment processes in Dangote group?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

Q9. Does the human resource manager have the capacity to relocate allowance and move expenses reimbursement guidelines?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

Q10. Does the human resource manager have any significant effect on commitment building?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

Q11. Is the human resource manager responsible for talent recognition in an organisation?

 

YES	NO	PREFER NOT TO RESPOND

 

This is the end of the questionnaire.

 

Thank you for your time in filling out this questionnaire.  I would appreciate it if you could give the form back to me.