Order, layout, privacy and piloting

Keep every question on purpose

• Go through each question and ask: does this help answer the investigative question? If not, remove it.
• A shorter, focused questionnaire gets more and better responses than a long, rambling one.

Order of questions

• Start with easy, general questions to settle the respondent in.
• Put sensitive or personal questions later, once some trust is built.
• Group related questions together and follow a logical flow.
• Place filter questions before the questions that depend on them.

Layout and clarity

• One idea per question, in plain language.
• Give clear instructions ("tick one", "select all that apply").
• Leave enough space for open answers, and make options easy to select.
• Keep it a sensible length — too long and people give up or rush.

Privacy and ethics

• Make it anonymous where possible, and say so — this improves honesty on sensitive topics.
• Only ask for information you actually need.
• Let people skip sensitive questions ("Prefer not to say").

Checking the questionnaire: two separate steps

The standard names two checks, and they are not the same thing. Both are assessed, and students routinely do only the second.

• The desk review comes first. You (and ideally someone else) read the draft critically without giving it to anyone, checking each question against the information needs:
  • Does every question serve the purpose? Cut the ones that do not.
  • Is any question leading, loaded, double-barrelled, ambiguous or presuming?
  • Are the response options exclusive and exhaustive?
  • Is the order sensible, and do the filters work?
• The pilot survey comes second, and it is a real run on a small number of people.
  • You must actually collect and record the pilot data — this is a named component, not a thought experiment.
  • Watch for questions people hesitate over, read twice, or ask about.
  • Check that every answer given fits an option, and note any that did not.
  • Look at the recorded data and ask whether it would actually answer your investigative question.
• Then refine. Change the wording, options or order based on what the pilot showed, and say what you changed and why — that reasoning is where the justification marks are.

Documenting the design

• The standard requires you to document the design process, including the draft and the final questionnaire. Both versions must appear in your report.
• Show the changes and the reasons: "Question 4 asked 'Do you think the canteen is good value and healthy?' — the pilot showed two students agreed with one half and disagreed with the other, so it was split into two questions."
• A report with only the final questionnaire cannot reach the higher grades, because the evidence of refinement has been thrown away.