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Mistakes to Avoid in Writing Your Dissertation Questionnaire

Nov 30, 2022 | 0 comments

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Nov 30, 2022 | Blog | 0 comments

The dissertation questionnaire is a critical section of the research paper because it contains the questions you will ask your respondents. As a researcher and analyst, you must avoid making mistakes when writing this part of your study. If you are not careful when writing this section, it can lead to biasness in your results and make them unverifiable.

Not doing enough research.

It would be best to research before writing a dissertation questionnaire. Research is essential because it helps you to find out what the topic is about and to know who will be interested in reading your final product.

The following are some of the reasons why you should do research:

  • To gather information about your writing project’s topic, audience, and purpose.
  • To understand what others have written on this topic before.

Writing with too many pronouns.

Avoid pronouns like ‘we,” ‘us,’ and ‘our.’ It’s a good idea to avoid using pronouns in general when writing your dissertation questionnaire. Instead of using the word “we,” for example, write it as “the research team.”

Use ‘I’ instead of too many impersonal pronouns. Using personal pronouns such as “I,” “me,” and “myself” is more effective than using impersonal ones such as we, us, and ourselves.” This makes the language more direct and less vague.

Use names rather than pronouns when possible – mainly when referring to people who are not part of your team but have been interviewed during your study or investigation.

Detailing a questionnaire excessively.

It would be best if you avoid including too much detail in the questionnaire. Questions must be clear, relevant, and easy to understand. A good mix of open and closed questions can also be helpful.

Collecting data from irrelevant sources

It’s easy to get carried away when you’re collecting data. You start reading some study, and then the next thing you know, you’ve sent out 20 emails asking researchers whether they’d be willing to answer a few questions for your dissertation (and before you know it, they’re all “yes” es). While it’s essential to have a wide range of sources for your research, it’s also important not to collect information from sources irrelevant to your study.

That said: how do we avoid collecting data from outside sources? It’s simple! Just make sure that the information being collected makes sense about the topic at hand.

Being too Ambiguous

First, be clear on your goals. What do you want to achieve with this questionnaire? How will it help you in the long run? Don’t just write down “find out what people think about this topic.” That doesn’t tell us much. Instead, start by considering who will use your questionnaire and how it will help them.

Next, be clear on what message(s) are being conveyed in the questionnaire itself; there should never be one idea being presented throughout every question asked during an interview or survey session because readers might get confused when reading through each section individually!

Using Unclear or Confusing Language

Your questions should be clear and straightforward. Avoid using jargon or acronyms unless you’re sure that your readers will know what you’re referring to. Use simple language, avoid complicated sentence structures and convoluted clauses, and try to keep your audience’s attention by using active voice (rather than passive).

Not asking relevant and researched questions.

The first thing you should do when planning your questionnaire is research the topic. This will help you to understand what is already known about this issue and what gaps in the knowledge there are. It would be best if you made sure the questions you ask are relevant and will help you to answer the research question.

To be specific, you need to have a clear idea of what exactly it is that you want to find out through the questionnaire. For example, suppose your question is about how people feel about social media. In that case, some good open-ended questions might include: “What do people like most about social media?” or “How has social media changed over time? Do people see it as something positive or negative for society?”

Avoiding open-ended questions

Open-ended questions are an excellent way to ask participants what they think and feel. Open-ended questions allow them to express their opinions, feelings, and experiences with the topic at hand. This is important because it gives you insight into how they view the subject.

Open-ended questions will help you generate more participants’ responses than closed-ended ones.

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Asking too many or too few questions

It would be best if you asked only the relevant questions to your research.

The number of questions in a questionnaire depends on the topic and target population. In some surveys, it may be appropriate to have just 1 or 2 questions; in others, you will need 20 or 30 questions.

Not deciding the method of answer collection.

Decide on the method of answer collection. You can decide whether your questionnaire will be filled in online, on paper, over the phone, or face to face. However, it would be best if you also considered other options, such as emailing it to respondents and requesting that they send back a copy via snail mail. This may seem like an unusual route, but it has advantages such as cost savings and time-saving.

A common mistake people make is not deciding on this early enough in the research process. It should be agreed upon before designing your questionnaire because it affects how your questionnaires look and what language they’re written in (if different languages are required).

Not Considering Participants’ Background

When conducting a study, you must consider the background of your participants. This includes their age, gender, education level, occupation, and marital status. The information they provide will help determine how accurate or unbiased their responses are.

These details must be collected since they can affect the questionnaire results. For instance, if there is a big difference between the ages of different participants, this could mean that they have different opinions on some issues, which may lead to biased data collection.

Writing Words Like ‘Always,’ ‘Never,’ ‘Sometimes’

Avoid using words like ‘always,’ ‘never,’ and ‘sometimes,’ which are vague and not specific in the questionnaire. These are very hard to measure and analyze.

Using Slang Words

Slang words are generally not appropriate for academic writing. While using them in everyday conversations is OK, they will negatively impact your dissertation questionnaire if used excessively. Slang words can make your questionnaire seem unprofessional and tedious to read, which you want to avoid when writing an academic document.

You should also be aware that some people might not understand what specific terms mean if they’re not commonly used within the field of study that pertains to your research question or hypothesis. In other words, using slang could lead some respondents to misinterpret parts of the survey and provide inaccurate answers because they don’t understand what questions are asking them—which could cause issues later on during data analysis!

Not Providing Sufficient Instructions For Completing The Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a set of questions you ask people to answer to collect data for your research. You must provide clear instructions for each question so that the people who take the questionnaire can answer it correctly and completely. You should also provide instructions on how to write the answers and how to submit the completed questionnaire. For example:

For each question that has multiple parts, such as “How often do you…?” or “Please rate your opinion…” make sure there are clear instructions about what goes into each part of the answer (how many times per week vs., on a scale of 1–10 vs., strongly agree vs., strongly disagree). Also, include any other optional information respondents need (such as which rating scale should be used).

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Not Having a Privacy Statement

A privacy statement should be included in the questionnaire. You must also obtain the participant’s signature on this statement, indicating that they have read and understood it. After completing the study, destroy all copies of the signed privacy statement so that no one can access any identifying information about participants after you finish your work.

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Take Away

With these tips, you can go forth and conquer your dissertation questionnaire. We know it can seem daunting, but we’re here to help when you need us!

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