Sociology.

Developing questions

© Silvija Revele,
MBA, Mg.Soc.
Examples:

1. What is your age?

______________________________
2. To what age group Do you belong?
❑ Under 18 year (1)
❑ 18 until 40 (2)
❑ 41 until 60 (3)
❑ Over 60 years (4)

3. To what age group Do you belong?

❑ Under 18 years (1)
❑ 18 until 25 (2)
❑ 26 until 40 (3)
❑ Other (specify) _________(4)
Question types
Types of questions in Sociology:
Could be divided according to:
1) Format – how the answers are formulated?
Is there any list of answers or not.

2) Content – what meaning

is included? ( this is about some facts, or attitudes or knowledge)

3) other – other types ( design etc.)

( matrix questions, image choice questions, file uploaded questions etc.)
 Question types

Question types

Format Content Other

Affective/liking and
Close-ended questions Open-ended Half-ended Factual Knowledge
Motivational
questions questions questions questions
questions
 Content Questions type

3. Question types:
Knowledge – information level about something
Attitude – evaluation of , understanding why?
Factual or action – when any information is fixed about the Object

BASIC RULE
All 3 question types SHOULD be used for any Sociological
Research ( in any Questionnaire – all 3 question types by
content)
 Content Questions type
Factual questions– where some kind of behaviour, actions,
events, pieces of information are fixed.
Commonly used:
• To receive background information (environment)
What is going on in economics of Latvia during the last 10
years?
• Fix any activity
• What brands of shampoo are you using...?
• Fix activity intensity
How often Do You use this brand of shampoo..?
• Fix belonging to socio- demographical group
• What is Your current marital status?
Factual questions

 Easy to answer (easy for respondents)

 High validity of the answers (people are not tend
to lie)
 Commonly are used at the beginning of the
Questionnaire, before Main Body (part)
 Add the time interval, when developing the
question (in the past 2 weeks etc.)

Disadvantages:
 Memory problems - people do not remember
 Knowledge questions

Knowledge questions – represents persons ’ information level

about the object, product, event etc.
It includes:
• awareness of the existence of the object;
• knowledge about the object;
• beliefs about characteristics of the attributes of the object.
 Knowledge questions. Examples.

 Awareness of the existence of the object;

These are questions which relates ‘ To have some idea about’ – to have some
Information about something
To have some idea about, information (to hear, to see, to notice something)

Q:“ Do You notice some new brands of beer in the last 2 weeks?
 Knowledge questions. Examples.

 Knowledge level –how deep is information about Object

(to have read about, to know about it)
Q: “Do beer contains Methanol?”
“ From what cereals is brewed the Beer? ‘
“ What do You know, have read about negative sides of usage of beer?
Beliefs about characteristics of the attributes of the object –
could be false or correct beliefs
Q: “ Could drinking of beer could reduce heart disease?
Knowledge questions
Suggestions :
 Order of the questions. At first ask information question, after
knowledge question

 Note: the knowledge questions check with some general

‘yes’/’no ‘questions before

Do You know what are the higher state institutions in Latvia ? (yes/no/hard
to answer)
Who is the Prime Minister of Latvia in the past 3 years?_____
Who is the President of Latvia in the past 3 years ______
Knowledge questions

Disadvantages:

• Not easy to answer ( respondent need to have some

knowledge about the Object)

• Could be large amount of unanswered questions

 Attitude questions (also motivational)
Attitude questions – summarize persons’ overall evaluation,
feelings toward an object, situation, person etc. Also motivation
of attitudes could be measured
Do you like this brand of beer?
What are advantages of this product?
What are shortages of this product? What is yours the most preferred beer
brand during the last year?
Why Your attitude like this?
Characteristics of answers:
 When where are several alternatives to chose among, liking is expressed
in terms of preferences: ‘most preferred’, ‘first choice’, ‘second choice’
etc.
 On a scale of like- dislike, favourable- unfavourable.
 Format type questions
Question types according to their format

Definition. The question classification based on the

answer types ( do they have answer list or not,
what type of answers )

The main types:

 Open-ended – without answer list

 Closed-ended – with answer list
 Half closed-ended – with answer list but there is
also option to answer by their own
Examples:
1. Think about all the advertising that You have seen in the past week.
Please name any batteries that have advertised themselves as
‘better for the environment’?

2. Think about all the advertising that You have seen in the past week.
Which if any, of the batteries listed have advertised themselves as
‘better for the environment’? Please check as many as are
appropriate:
❑ Energizer (1)
❑ Duracell (2)
❑ Power (3)
3. Think about all the advertising that You have seen in the past week.
Which if any, of the batteries listed have advertised themselves as
‘better for the environment’? Please check as many as are
appropriate:
❑ Energizer (1)
❑ Duracell (2)
❑ Power (3)
❑ Other (specify) _________(4)
Open – ended questions
Definition. Collect information by allowing an individual
to reply in his or her own words without use of a
fixed, predetermined set of answers.
These questions are not questions that could be answered with
one word ( like ‘ yes’ ; ‘ no’ etc.)

Usage:
 Mainly are used in qualitative research (Focus
groups, Depth interviews etc.)
• Could be used in quantitative researches (surveys) sometimes
• only few questions (1 - 4,5) could be used in questionnaires

 Widely are used in Pilot research (when the research

problem is poorly defined)
Open – ended questions

Example.
What do You think, what are the benefits of a hair product
that combines shampoo and conditioner?
SPECIFY ?
Open – ended questions

Advantages
 Permit an individual to answer without influence (the list
of response options)

 Well suited for items about which are hard to list

potential responses

 Is a good way to introduce a topic area, if it is unknown

for the researcher
 Can provide a context for interpreting an individuals’
answers to closed questions. Could be combined
together with them
 Open – ended questions

Disadvantages

 Responses can be incomplete, irrelevant and

incomprehensible

 When used in surveys, respondents have tendency not to

answer on theses questions

 Take more time to administer and is more time consuming in

analyses versus of analyses of closed-ended questions
 Open – ended questions
What to remember when developing open-ended
questions?:

 The questions must be truly open-ended ( they couldn’t be

answered with one or few words , like ‘yes’; ‘ no’; )

 Detailed questioning is necessary to prepare: attitudes,

feelings, behaviours + projective techniques

How satisfied You are with the product?

What are your thoughts and feelings towards the product?
What do You think the other people think, feel about this
product ?
 Open – ended questions

• The questions must explicitly probe responses

• Lack of the depth
• All the time probing the attitudes

‘Please, specifie’
‘Is there anything else?’
‘Does anything else come into mind?’
 Open – ended questions

•The questions should be single – minded

• Each request of the information should be asked as separate
question

Example:
1. Do any strengths and weaknesses of Johnson Johnson
shampoo come into mind?

2. Do any strengths of J&J shampoo come into mind?

3. Do any weaknesses of J&J shampoo come into mind?
 Open – ended questions
How to sum up/generalise open-ended questions when used?
• Summing up per question:
• Split the answers into sentences
• Write down on the paper
• Divide into piles by the main themes, categories
• Find out the more frequent answers’ categories, themes
• 60% concerns about family, 50% about personal values etc.
• than try to find out the attitudes +, -, or 0
• Make a list of other answers’ categories (include them into the report
tables)
Close-ended questions

Definition. Collect information by allowing an individual to

reply with a use of a fixed, predetermined set of
answers.

Closed-ended questions provide a set of fixed alternative

answers.

Q. Please select your age group

Under 18 year (1)
18 until 40 (2)
41 until 60 (3)
Over 60 years (4)
Close-ended questions

Example. Please, use the following scale below to indicate the

extent to which you liked or disliked a hair product that
combines shampoo and conditioner?
❑ Strongly liked (1)
❑ Slightly liked (2)
❑ Slightly disliked (3)
❑ Strongly disliked (4)
 Close-ended questions
Usage:
• Typically used in quantitative research (Surveys)
• Sometimes could be used also in qualitative research, but
in a very restricted way
• mostly to have more clear understanding of main
attitudes: like/ dislike
• 1- 4,5 questions could be used in questionnaires
• Full range of answer options should be presented

• Respondents tend to use those answers who are listed

If the list is uncompleted -> research errors
 Close-ended questions

Advantages
 Easier for a respondent to answer
 Is quicker to administer

Disadvantages
 Produce less variability in the range of responses
 Could be investigated only that what is included in the question
 More possibilities that could lead to the research errors if
research object is not known
Close-ended questions

How to sum up questions ?

• Summing up per question:
• Use each answers in generalisation
• Use codes of each answer
• Enter into the computer using programs (SPSS,
Excel)
• Process or Find out frequency, compute the % of
the answer
• Prepare the table (Table: Total. Number. Percent)
• Prepare chart, diagrams, pies etc.
Half ended questions

Definition. Collect information by allowing an

individual to reply with a use of a fixed,
predetermined set of answers, but the last
(one) answer possibility stay open and
respondent could formulate it by him/herself
• Half-ended questions are similar to the close-
ended questions
•
• They provide a set of fixed alternative answers
+ one possibility to formulate the answer by
respondent
 Half ended questions

Usage (see the same as closed ended questions):

 Are used in quantitative research (Surveys)

 Could be used also in qualitative research also, but

in some cases only

 mostly to have more clear understanding of main

attitudes: like/ dislike

 1- 4,5 questions could be used in questionnaires

Half ended questions

 Also should be used when could not be

presented full range of options (answer
options), but is better version for such cases than
close-ended questions

Respondents tend to use those answers who

are listed
Not so many respondents tend to use the
possibility to formulate their own answer
If the list is uncompleted -> research errors
Close-ended question types

Closed Questions

Dichotomous Ratio scale

Multiple Choice q.
questions questions

Itemized
Graphic Scales
questions
 Close-ended question types
1. Dichotomous questions
• Dichotomous questions – the simplest type of
measurement

• The most common usage of answers : ‘yes’ and

‘no’ or other 2 answers
• Are very simple to answer, and to process (edit,
code, tabulate etc.) and to analyse

 Mutually exclusive categories

 Dichotomous q.
Example
Are You currently married?
❑Yes (1)
❑No (2)

Are You currently married or single?

❑Married (1)
❑Single (2)
Multiple Choice question

2. Multiple-Choice questions
 Are nominal measures that present 3 or more exclusive
and exhaustive categories of the response.
 Are used then necessary to split categories/ answers into
smaller type
 Commonly is used to collect the demographical
information
 Also to collect behaviour information, attitude,
motivation etc.

In the layout, be careful:

Use different procedures to change ‘hallo effect’: split –
ballot procedure, use check procedure etc.
 Multiple Choice questions

Example
Q. 12. Into which of the following groups does your total, annual hose hold
income fall?
❑Under 15,000 (1)
❑15,000-24,999 (2)
❑25,000-34,999 (3)
❑35,000-44,999 (4)
❑45,000-54,999 (5)
❑55,00 and over (6)
Graphic & itemized scale q.
3. Graphic & itemized scale questions
 Are interval measures that presents rating (content is split into
content)
 Rating scales could be presented in either a graphic or an
itemised format
 Commonly more is used itemised format

Developing question remember:

 There is correspondence between information requested in
the question itself and the scales used (evaluation used in
scales)
 Both ends of the rating scale are mentioned in the question
itself
 The scales are constructed that there are equal intervals,
spaces between scale points
Graphic scale

Example.
1. Place a mark on the line below to indicate how would rate the
believability of the commercial You just saw when compared to other
shampoo advertising.
You may place a check anywhere on the line, The closer the end on the
line You place the mark the more the on that end describes of the
commercial’s believability.

Extremely Extremely
Believable Unbelievable
I____________________________________________________I
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 90 100
 Itemized rating scale

Example.
11.Q. Think about commercial You just saw. Select one choice from the scale
below that best reflects how believable or unbelievable you feel that
commercial is when compared to other shampoo advertising.

❑Very believable (1)

❑Slightly believable (2)
❑Slightly unbelievable (3)
❑Very unbelievable (4)

Other possible ratings: Strongly agree/ Slightly agree/ Slightly disagree/ Strongly
disagree.
Pleased/Slightly pleased/ Neither pleased nor displeased/Slightly
displeased/Strongly displeased
 Ratio level questions

4. Ratio level questions

 Are ratio measures presents rating how much posses some
characteristics: more, less or none
 The most common form is the constant sum scale
 Commonly more is used to measure objects, behaviours and
beliefs on a continuum with a fixed zero

Developing question remember:

 There is necessity to present preference for each object,
the importance o each attribute or degree to which the
target posses the each attribute.
 Please use evaluation using some kind of sums
 The most common sum used in research are 1 0 and 100
Constant sum questions.
Ratio level questions

Example:
Please allocate 100 points how you spend your
monthly income

Utility payments __________

Food_____________
Entertainment_____________
Other ___________

TOTAL: ___100__
Constant sum questions. Ratio level questions
Example:
‘I would like to ask Your opinion about how serious You think
certain crimes are in Europe in the last 5 years? ‘

Assume that you have 100 points. Divide the points among the certain
crimes below to indicate each crime’s importance/seriousness. The
more points you give something, the more serious it is. Please,
make certain that your total equals 100 points.

A person steals a bicycle parked on the street__________

A parent beats his child with his fist_____________
A person uses explosives in a public building_____________
A person kills his close relative ; wife/husband___________

TOTAL: ___100__
Matrix Type
 Other types of the questions.
Star rating questions
•Is a type of rating questions that uses odd
numbers or stars

•Please rate the following shops at Riga

(where 1 star means min and 5 stars mean max positive)

• RIMI

• MAXIMA

• LIDL
 Other types of the questions.
Visual analog questions
•‘ Thumbs up’ and ‘ Thumbs down’ question Is
a type of rating questions ( close ended) where
respondents should indicate their attitudes
(positive /or negative) towards something

•Do you like the shop Lidl?

• ‘ Like ‘
Or
• ‘Hate’
 Summary
• CLASSIFICATION of Question Types:
• Content
• Format
• 2 RULES OF USAGE
• 1st Rule – Usage of Questions by its Format
• Research Type ( Qualitative or Quantitative) directly relates to the Format of the
question what could be used
• QUALITATIVE RESEARCH TYPE (Research Project) – Open ended Questions
• QUANTITATIVE Research Type – Close ended / Half ended Questions
 Summary
• 2nd rule – Usage of Questions by its Content
• In each research its necessary to formulate / to use all types of Questions
by the Content

• In Qualitative Research its suggested to use 1-2 Special Question Types

of the questions by Format ( Ideal question, Projective question)

• When developing questions use Research Concept ( this is content about

what is necessary to ask)
Sources

• https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/en/qualitative-research-open-and-
closed-ended-questions/
• https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/survey-question-types/
• https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-open-ended-and-
closed-ended-questions.html
• https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2019/01/what-makes-a-
research-question-sociological.html
• https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter2-
sociological-research/
• https://www.questionpro.com/article/types-of-questions-
question-types.html
[types; templates]