[Theforum] Re: questionnaire

Madhu Menon webguru at vsnl.net
Thu Nov 1 13:03:13 CST 2001


At 11:24 PM 11/1/2001, you wrote:
>MULTIPLE CHOICE vs. TEXT AREA
>
>If you make the survey all multiple choice, (radio/check) please include 
>at least one optional comment area at the end for comments about anything 
>that is yet burning on the survey-ee's mind.
>
>I often find that multiple-choice surveys don't address my most 
>significant issues.  More often, I find my choice is not listed in the 
>options provided.

Ah, I was just catching up on the thread and was about to suggest it. Saved 
me some effort, Erika.

I used to work along with the IDC India fools, er, people in one of my jobs 
(separate divisions, same office). So I popped in occassionally to check 
out their methods. Anyway...

If you want data that can be "analysed" i.e., make a database do all the 
hard work for you, it's a better idea to give everything as selectable 
choices. Like Erika points out, you might want to say more or select a 
choice not present. Adding a "Comments" TEXTAREA would be the wise choice, 
but let's also thrash out all reasonable answers.

Let me tell you: It's possible to manipulate any questionairre to get the 
answers you want. So framing proper questions is very important. I suggest 
we finalise on the questions first before debating what choices we'll have 
for answers.


For example, let's agree on whether something like this (example only) is a 
reasonable question:

"What role do you play in your present job?"

before simultaneously debating about whether we'll have 
"designer/programmer/interface guy/sysadmin/[insert role here]" as choices. 
This will keep the discussion focussed.

Sorry, the information architect in me likes to do these things 
systematically. System is good. Process is good :)


As for anonymous versus identification, I'd normally use anonymous if this 
were for a commercial site. I feel, however, that if you want to get more 
"truthful" data, you shouldn't allow anonymity. The downside is that fewer 
people will participate, but the upside is that you'll get more reliable 
data. Just don't ever contact these people for clarifications so that they 
don't feel like they'll be hounded if they say something negative. Or... 
have a checkbox on the form that says, "Contact me in the future about my 
answers" and leave it unchecked by default, of course.


<tip type="Language differences">

American and British English have some differences (but of course you knew 
that).

This URL has a good list of tools and sites that explain the differences: 
http://esl.about.com/cs/britishamerican/

Oh, I'm not even including Strine English ;)

</tip>

Madhu

<<<   *   >>>
Madhu Menon
User Experience Consultant
e-mail: webguru at vsnl.net





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