DESIGNING DATA COLLECTION FORMSWorkshop on Emergency Information Management

Neuhausen, June, 2012. Christian Oxenboll, UNHCR

Questionnaires

Why do we use questionnaires? Target large amount of people Use to describe, compare or explain Can cover activities and behaviour,

knowledge, attitudes, preferences Specific objectives, standardised and highly

structured Used to collect quantitative data –

information that can be counted or measured

Designing a Questionnaire

It’s easy, we can all do it, right? Take a blank piece of paper Add the questions that come to mind Find some people to ask the questions Enter the data into your computer Do the calculations and publish your report Voila!

Importance of good design

Why is the form design important? Bad forms can:

Bias the data collection process Lead to misunderstanding of questions Lead to bad interpretation of data Generate bad data quality Lead to wrong operational decisions ………….. ………….

Designing Data Collection Forms Define objectives for the data collection Involve all relevant stakeholders Define the dimensions

Protection WASH Education

Define components within each dimension Protection of Women Access to Territory

Decide on the unit of measurement Define data collection methodology Define the questions for each component

Unit of Measurement

Unit of measurement vs. unit of analysis Individual Household Community Institution

Data Volume Do not mix questions with different units

of measurement on the same form Aggregation

Designing Data Collection Forms

Defining the questions Clear and unambiguous questions Avoid abbreviations and UNHCR jargon Avoid leading questions Open-ended/closed questions Mutually exclusive or multiple choices Sufficient answer categories (incl. Unknown, Other, N/A) Avoid double questions Operational importance/relevance Data accessibility Data sensitivity

Test the form and provide guidance to questions

Types of Answers

Categories/Types of Answers Qualitative

Yes/No Categorical

Quantitative Number Percentage Other rate/ratio Date

Ordinal Likert Scale

Flow Chart and Skip PatternQ.

1-8a

Yes

No

Q.8b

Q.9-11a

No Q. 11b-c

Yes

Q. 12-15a

<5 yrs. old

Yes & No, outside Kenya Q.

16-18

No, in Kenya

Q. 15b

Yes

No

Q.19a

Q. 21

Yes Q. 19b

No

Q.20a

No

Yes Q. 19c

Questionnaire Administration Self-administered questionnaires Questionnaires completed through

interviews Which method is better?

Self-administered questionnaires

Advantages• Less expensive• More reliable data for

sensitive questions• Can obtain longer open-

ended responses from motivated respondents

• Respondents can consult records more readily

• More time to think about response

Disadvantages• Respondents may not

complete questionnaire in right order

• More missing data• Often higher non-

response rate• Sampling problematic if

unsure who completed the questionnaire

• Usually must ask less complicated questions

• Questionnaires cannot be too lengthy

Questionnaires completed through interviews

Advantages• Questionnaire completed

in correct order• Usually less missing data• Often lower non-

response rate• Can ask more

complicated questions• Face-to-face interviews

can be lengthy

Disadvantages• More expensive• Often less reliable for

sensitive questions• Must train interviewers;

data quality can suffer from poor interviewer performance

• Interviews can feel rushed, leading to less thought on part of respondent