Why this matters
Bad questions produce bad data, and no amount of cleaning can fix it later. M&E and research adverts ask for survey design, sampling and baseline studies because a well designed questionnaire is the foundation of every report that follows. Even as a junior, you will often be asked to review or test a questionnaire before it goes to the field.
Writing clear questions
Good survey questions are short, neutral and ask about one thing at a time.
- One idea per question. "Do you have a latrine and is it clean?" is two questions. Split it.
- Neutral wording. "Don't you agree the new borehole is better?" pushes people towards yes. Ask "How would you rate the new borehole?" instead.
- Clear time frames. "In the last 7 days, how many days did your child attend school?" is better than "Does your child attend school regularly?"
- Plain words. Avoid jargon such as "livelihood diversification". Ask what people actually do.
- Translate carefully. Agree a translation in Dagbani or the local language with the team and test it, so every enumerator asks the same question.
Answer choices
Closed questions give fixed choices, which are quick to analyse. Make the choices cover every likely answer without overlap. Age groups like 15 to 24 and 24 to 34 overlap at 24, which causes confusion. Add "Other (specify)" and "Don't know" where it makes sense. Use open questions sparingly, because they take longer to analyse.