<p> The Ten Commandments of Question Writing Redundancy often carries a high price in the I. Thou shalt not create double-barreled respondent’s level of motivation. In addition, items. respondents often believe redundant questions . E.g. Asking a respondent to agree or disagree to the following question: are intended to trick them or check their level I am shy and uncomfortable in of honesty. social situations? This makes the respondent provide a single VII. Thou shalt not permit any loaded answer for a two-part question. questions to appear in your questionnaire. The respondent may be shy but at the same Avoid questions that transmit a bias, an time comfortable, or vice a versa. Eliminating assumption, or emotions. “and” will help to avoid confusion of . E.g., Do you agree or disagree that the interpretation. Splitting the item into two government should stop wasting money separate questions is also helpful. on road construction? Allowing the respondents to express their II. Thou shalt not use “no” and “not” or views helps you to obtain the respondent's true words beginning with “un”. belief. To avoid loaded questions, have an . E.g., Most people are not usually impartial person review your survey. uncomfortable with not having to present their names on questionnaires. VIII. Thou shalt not mix response formats The negative qualifiers contribute to the within a set of questions. complexity of the question. However, if “no”, Make it as simple as possible. A sudden change “not”, and “un” are required, try using boldface in the response format can be frustrating. For type to avoid confusion. example, shifting from a true or false format to a multiple-choice format tend to be error III. Thou shalt match the vocabulary used in provoking. However, if you are using various items to the vocabulary of those who will formats, be sure to divide them into sub- respond to them. sections with clear instructions. Remember cultural competencies by avoiding jargon/terminology not related to your selected IX. Thou shalt not permit a non-committal target. Short, concise, and non-technical words response. decrease the chance of misinterpretation. Respondents may become evasive when provided with a neutral response alternative. IV. Thou shalt not use complex grammatical . E.g., “none of the above” response forms. alternative Keep the respondents happy by keeping it However, a respondent could object when not simple. provided with a neutral alternative and “forced” to answer. Therefore, careful consideration of V. Thou shalt have 40-60% true or agree the target population characteristics should be keyed items. applied when determining the utilization of a Avoid an excessive use of negative neutral response alternative. terminology by having a balance of positive responses. This encourages the respondents to X. Thou shalt pretest questions before actively engage in question consideration. collecting data. Apply a pretest to a subset of the target VI. Thou shalt not use redundant and population. A pretest can help to identify irrelevant items or repetitiveness. concerns such as levels of difficulty, accurate interpretation of question, and respondents' motivation. </p><p>Summarized by Indiana Prevention Resource Center The Ten Commandments of Question Writing</p><p>Ellard, J.H. & Rogers, T.B. (1993). Teaching questionnaire construction effectively: The ten commandments of question writing. Contemporary Social Psychology, 17, 17-20</p><p>Summarized by Indiana Prevention Resource Center</p>