Category: Research Methodology

Crafting Effective Questionnaires for PhD Research: A Step-by-Step Guide

Do you know the major problems researchers can face if they don’t craft productive PhD research questionnaires? They may be unable to replicate the research and are also unable to help the readers understand the answers of the research questions. And not only that, but crafting ineffective questionnaires for your PhD research, can lead to your entire research being a futile prospect. But the story takes a turn.

After extensive research, we have understood that there are basically 3 steps to craft effective questionnaires for your PhD research. In this blog, we are going to describe those 3 steps so that you not only craft effective questionnaires but also help others to craft Effective Questionnaires for your PhD research. So, let’s get started, shall we?

But wait 🤚!!! Do these three methods help you create good surveys for your PhD research? is the first query you ought to address to yourself. I mean, is there a crucial query you ought to have answered before diving into the subject? Please think through and then read the remaining blog.

Why is it necessary to design efficient questionnaires for PhD research? So you might not be able to create the ideal questionnaire for your PhD if you don’t know the reason. As a result, you could be asking, “What is the solution?” Please read the remaining posts on the blog to learn more about this.

Crafting effective questionnaires is crucial for PhD research for several reasons:

  • Obtaining reliable and valid data: Effective questionnaires ensure that the data collected is reliable and valid, which is essential for making accurate conclusions and recommendations based on the research findings.
  • Enhancing the credibility of the research: If a questionnaire is poorly constructed, it can undermine the credibility of the research and make it difficult to convince others of the findings.
  • Improving response rates: An effective questionnaire is more likely to be completed by respondents, resulting in higher response rates and more representative data.
  • Reducing bias: A well-crafted questionnaire reduces the potential for bias in the responses by ensuring that questions are clear, unbiased, and focused on the research objectives.
  • Saving time and resources: By ensuring that the questionnaire is well-designed, researchers can save time and resources by collecting data that is directly relevant to the research question.
  • Facilitating data analysis: An effective questionnaire can make data analysis easier and more accurate by ensuring that the questions are structured in a logical and consistent manner.

Hence, crafting an effective questionnaire is essential for obtaining reliable and valid data, enhancing the credibility of the research, improving response rates, reducing bias, saving time and resources, and facilitating data analysis. So, let’s jump into knowing the answers to these questions.

PhD research questionnaires development and validation

Before moving with this part, we have something important to discuss regarding the development of the PhD research questions. Can you guess what? It is as important as knowing the development process of PhD research questions. 

Developing effective research questions is an essential step in the process of conducting a PhD research project. Here are some tips to help you develop effective PhD research questions:

  • Start with a broad topic: Begin by identifying a broad topic area that you are interested in and that has not been extensively researched. The topic should be significant and relevant to your field of study.
  • Review existing literature: Conduct a thorough review of existing literature to identify research gaps and potential areas of exploration.
  • Narrow down your focus: Once you have identified a research gap, narrow down your focus by formulating research questions that are specific, focused, and clear. Avoid broad and vague questions that are difficult to answer.
  • Make sure your research questions are feasible: Your research questions should be feasible and answerable within the timeframe and resources available for your PhD project.
  • Test your questions: Share your research questions with your supervisor and peers to get feedback and refine them further.
  • Make sure your research questions are original: Ensure that your research questions are original and contribute to the existing body of knowledge in your field.
  • Revise and refine: Continuously revise and refine your research questions throughout the PhD project as you gain more knowledge and insights.

Remember that developing effective PhD research questions is an iterative process and requires time, effort, and collaboration with your supervisor and peers. 

Now, another question can come in our mind which is “why validation is needed for PhD research questionnaires?” It will help you decide whether to validate the questionnaires or not. So, let us know the answer to this question and then decide.

Validation is essential for PhD research questionnaires for several reasons:

  • Ensuring reliability: Validation helps ensure that the questionnaire measures what it is intended to measure consistently across different participants and situations. This increases the validity of the data that is gathered.
  • Minimizing measurement errors: Validation helps identify and minimize measurement errors that could lead to inaccurate data and potentially flawed research conclusions.
  • Increasing validity: Validation helps ensure that the questionnaire is measuring the construct or concept it is intended to measure. This increases the validity of the data collected and the research conclusions.
  • Enhancing credibility: A validated questionnaire enhances the credibility of the research and can make it easier to convince others of the research findings.
  • Improving research quality: A validated questionnaire can lead to better quality research by ensuring that the data collected is relevant, reliable, and valid.
  • Meeting ethical standards: Validating the questionnaire helps ensure that participants are not subjected to unnecessary or irrelevant questions, which is important for meeting ethical standards in research.

Hence, validation is needed for PhD research questionnaires to ensure reliability, minimize measurement errors, increase validity, enhance credibility, improve research quality, and meet ethical standards.

Validating a PhD research questionnaire involves several steps. Here are some key steps to consider:

  • Develop a clear research question: The first step in validating a questionnaire is to develop a clear research question that the questionnaire is designed to answer.
  • Determine the type of validity: There are different types of validity that a questionnaire can have, such as content validity, construct validity, criterion-related validity, and face validity. Determine which type(s) of validity are most relevant to your research.
  • Develop the questionnaire: Develop the questionnaire based on the research question and the type(s) of validity being assessed. Ensure that the questions are clear, unbiased, and relevant to the research objectives.
  • Conduct a pilot study: Administer the questionnaire to a small sample of participants (e.g., 10-15) to identify any problems with the questionnaire and assess the validity of the questions.
  • Evaluate the questionnaire: Evaluate the questionnaire for content validity, construct validity, criterion-related validity, and face validity based on the data collected from the pilot study.
  • Refine the questionnaire: Refine the questionnaire based on the feedback received during the pilot study and the validity assessment.
  • Administer the questionnaire: Administer the final version of the questionnaire to the target population.
  • Analyze the data: Analyze the data collected from the questionnaire to determine the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.
  • Report the results: Report the results of the validity assessment in the research report, including the methods used to assess validity, the results of the assessment, and any limitations of the questionnaire.

Hence, validating a PhD research questionnaire involves developing a clear research question, determining the type(s) of validity to be assessed, developing the questionnaire, conducting a pilot study, evaluating the questionnaire, refining the questionnaire, administering the questionnaire, analyzing the data, and reporting the results.

Now, it’s time to go to the 2nd step which can help you a little more in crafting better questions in PhD research.  

Types of validation of PhD research questionnaires

Now, it’s time to understand the different types of validation of the PhD research questionnaire. But again, the questioning will not end. Why do we need to know about different types of validation of PhD research questionnaires? 

Knowing about different types of validation of PhD research questionnaires is important for several reasons:

  • Ensuring the reliability and validity of data: Different types of validation can help ensure that the data collected from the questionnaire is reliable and valid, which is essential for making accurate conclusions and recommendations based on the research findings.
  • Selecting the appropriate type of validation: Depending on the research question and the type of data being collected, different types of validation may be more appropriate. Knowing about different types of validation can help researchers select the most appropriate type(s) of validation for their research.
  • Enhancing the credibility of the research: A well-validated questionnaire enhances the credibility of the research and can make it easier to convince others of the research findings.
  • Meeting ethical standards: Validating the questionnaire helps ensure that participants are not subjected to unnecessary or irrelevant questions, which is important for meeting ethical standards in research.
  • Improving research quality: Validating the questionnaire can lead to better quality research by ensuring that the data collected is relevant, reliable, and valid.

Now, I think there is no question left in this part except knowing the types of validation of PhD research questionnaires. If you have any questions in your mind, then you can comment below so that we can update the blog. So, let us jump into the answer to this question.

There are several types of validation of PhD research questionnaires. Some of the most typical varieties are listed below:

  • Content validity: Content validity refers to the extent to which the questionnaire items adequately cover the intended content area. To assess content validity, researchers typically seek input from subject matter experts or use established guidelines or criteria to evaluate the relevance of the questionnaire items.
  • Construct validity: Construct validity refers to the extent to which the questionnaire items measure the intended construct or concept. To assess construct validity, researchers may use statistical techniques, such as factor analysis or confirmatory factor analysis, to examine how well the questionnaire items align with the underlying construct.
  • Criterion-related validity: Criterion-related validity refers to the extent to which the questionnaire items are related to an external criterion or standard that is known to be related to the construct of interest. To assess criterion-related validity, researchers may compare the questionnaire scores to scores on a standardized test or other measures of the same construct.
  • Face validity: Face validity refers to the extent to which the questionnaire items appear to be relevant and appropriate to the participants. To assess face validity, researchers may ask participants to review the questionnaire and provide feedback on the clarity, relevance, and appropriateness of the items.
  • Concurrent validity: Concurrent validity refers to the extent to which the questionnaire items correlate with an external criterion measured at the same time. For example, if a questionnaire is designed to measure depression, researchers may compare the questionnaire scores to scores on a depression scale administered at the same time.
  • Predictive validity: Predictive validity refers to the extent to which the questionnaire items predict future behaviour or outcomes related to the construct of interest. For example, if a questionnaire is designed to measure job satisfaction, researchers may use the questionnaire scores to predict future job performance or turnover.

Hence, the most common types of validation of PhD research questionnaires include content validity, construct validity, criterion-related validity, face validity, concurrent validity, and predictive validity.

Principles and methods of PhD research questionnaires

We will divide this blog into two parts, in one part, we will describe the principles of PhD research questionnaires and in the next part, we will describe the methods of PhD research questionnaires. So, let us start the blog with the first part.

Understanding the principles of PhD research questionnaires is important because it enables a researcher to design effective and relevant questionnaires for their research. By following these principles, the researcher can ensure that the questions are clear, relevant, specific, feasible, original, testable, and significant, which will help them to gather accurate and useful data to answer their research questions. 

Additionally, understanding the methods of designing and administering research questionnaires will help the researcher to avoid common pitfalls and mistakes in the process, such as asking biased or leading questions, administering the questionnaire to an inappropriate population, or failing to pilot test the questionnaire. Ultimately, a well-designed research questionnaire can be a valuable tool for gathering data in a PhD research project and can contribute to the development of new knowledge in the researcher’s field of study. 

When formulating research questions for a PhD project, there are several principles that you should keep in mind:

  • Clarity: Your research questions should be clear and concise so that readers can easily understand what you are investigating.
  • Relevance: Your research questions should be relevant to your field of study and contribute to the existing body of knowledge.
  • Specificity: Your research questions should be specific enough to guide your research and help you to focus on the key issues that you want to explore.
  • Feasibility: Your research questions should be feasible to answer given the resources and time available for your PhD project.
  • Originality: Your research questions should be original and innovative so that they contribute to the development of new knowledge in your field.
  • Testability: Your research questions should be testable through empirical research methods so that you can gather data to support or refute your hypotheses.
  • Significance: Your research questions should be significant in terms of their potential impact on your field of study, and should address important research gaps or unanswered questions.

By following these principles, you can develop research questions that will guide your PhD project and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in your field.

Now, it’s time to know the second part of this question which is the methods of PhD research questionnaires. It is the last step for us to craft better questionnaires for PhD research. 

Research questionnaires can be a useful tool for gathering data in a PhD research project. When designing a research questionnaire, you should consider the following methods:

  • Identify the research questions: The first step is to identify the research questions that you want to answer. Your questionnaire should be designed to collect data that will help you to answer these questions.
  • Choose the appropriate type of questions: Decide on the type of questions you will use, such as open-ended or closed-ended questions. Closed-ended questions are usually easier to analyze and quantify, while open-ended questions can provide more in-depth and nuanced responses.
  • Determine the format of the questionnaire: The questionnaire can be administered online or in person, and can be structured or unstructured. The format will depend on the nature of your research questions and the target population.
  • Develop the questions: Develop clear and concise questions that are easy to understand and answer. Avoid using jargon or technical language that may be unfamiliar to your respondents.
  • Pilot tests the questionnaire: Before administering the questionnaire to your target population, conduct a pilot test with a small group of people to identify any potential issues or misunderstandings.
  • Administer the questionnaire: Once the questionnaire is finalized, administer it to your target population. You may need to provide instructions or assistance to ensure that respondents understand the questions and how to answer them.
  • Analyze the data: After collecting the data, analyze it using statistical or qualitative methods, depending on the nature of the data and research questions.

By using these methods, you can develop an effective research questionnaire that will help you to collect data and answer your research questions.

But wait!!! It’s not over yet. I hope you are a research enthusiast who wants to know more about creating better PhD research questions. Also, if you want us to help you in this matter, you can definitely contact us with the given contact information on the website. 

We haven’t answered one question in this blog. Can you guess the question? Then tell us in the comments.

Threats to Internal Validity – PhD Research Design Assistance

We will now consider several potential threats to the internal validity of a study. The confounds described here are those most encountered in psychological research; depending on the nature of the study,other confounds more specific to the type of research being conducted may arise. The confounds present here will give you an overview of some potential problems and an opportunity to begin developing the critical thinking skills involved in designing a sound study. These confounds are little problematic for nonexperimental designs but may also pose a threat to experimental designs. Taking the precautions described here should indicate whether or not the confound is present in the study.

 Nonequivalent control group. One of the most basic concerns in an experiment is that the subjects in a control and experimental groups are equivalent at the beginning of the study. For example, if you wanted to test the effectiveness of a smoking cessation program and you compared a group of smokers who voluntarily signed up for the program to a group of smokers who did not,the groups would not be equivalent . They are not equivalent because one of the group chose to seek help , and this makes them different from the group of smokers who didn’t seek help.They might be different in a number of ways. For example they might be concerned with their health . The point is that they differ, and thus, the groups are not equivalent. Using random sampling and random assignment are not used ,subject selection or assignment problems may result. In this case we would have a quasi-experimental design(discussed in chapter 13), not a true experiment.

History. Changes in the dependent variable may be due to historical events that occur outside of the study,leading to the confound known as history effect.These events are most likely unrelated to the study but nonetheless effects of a certain program on stress reduction in college reduction. The study covers a 2 month period during which students participate in your stress-reduction program. If your posttest measures were taken during midterm or final exams, you might notice an increase in stress even though subjects were involved in a program that was intended to reduce stress. Not taking the historical point in the semester into account might lead you to an erroneous conclusion concerning the stress-reduction program. Notice also that a control group of equivalent subjects would have helped reveal the confound in this study.

 Maturation.In the research in which subjects are studied over a period of time, a maturation effect can frequently be a problem. Subjects mature physically,socially and cognitively during the course of study. Any changes in the dependent variable that occur across the course of the study, therefore,may be due to maturation and not to the dependent variable are due to maturation;if they are, the subjects in the control group will change on the dependent variable during the course of the study even though they did not receive the treatment.

Testing.In studies in which are measured number of times , a testing effect may be problem-repeated testing may lead to better or worse performance. Many studies involve pretest and posttest measures. Other studies involve taking measures on an hourly, daily ,weekly or monthly basis. In these cases, subjects are exposed to the same or similar “tests” numerous times. As a result, changes in performance on the test may be due to prior experience with the test and not to the independent variable.If, for example, subjects took the same math test before and after participating in a special math course, the improvement observed in scores might be due to the participants’ familiarity with and practice on the test items.This type of testing confound is sometimes referred as a practice effect.Testing can also result in the opposite of a practice effect, a fatigue effect(sometimes referred to as a negative practice effect).Repeated testing fatigues the subjects, and their performance declines as a result .Once again having a control group of equivalent will help to control for testing confounds because researchers will be able to see practice or fatigue effects in a control group.  

Regression to the mean. Statistical Regression occurs when individuals are selected for a study because their scores at some measures were extreme either extreme high or extreme low. If we study students that scored in the top 10% on the SAT and we retested them on SAT, then we would expect them to do well again.Not at all,however,would score as well as they did originally because of  Statistical Regression.often referred to as  regression to the mean – a threat to internal validity in which extreme scores,upon retesting , tend to be less extreme, moving towards the mean. In other words, some of the students did well the first time due to chance or luck. What is going to happen when they are going to take the test the second time?They will not be as lucky, as their scores will regress toward the mean.

 Regression to the mean happens in many situations other than research studies. Many people think that a hex is associated with being on the cover of Sports Illustrated and that an athlete’s performance will decline after appearing on the cover.This can be explained by regression of mean.Athletes most likely appear on the cover of sports illustrated after a very successful season or on the peak of their carrier. What is most likely to happen after athletes perform exceptionally well over a period of time? They are likely to regress toward the mean and perform in amore average manner(Cozby,2001). In a research study having an equivalent control group of subjects with extreme scores will indicate whether changes  in the dependent measure are due to regression  to the mean or to the effects of the independent variable.

Instrumentation. An instrumentation effect occurs when the measuring device is faulty. Problems of consistency in measuring the dependent variables are most likely to occur when the measuring instrument is an human observer.The observer may become better at taking measures during the course of the study or may become fatigued with taking measures. If the measures taken during the study are not taken consistently, then any change in the dependent variable may be due these measurement changes and not to the independent variable. Once again having a control group of equivalent subjects will help to identify the confound.

Mortality or attrition.Most research studies have a certain amount of Mortality or attrition(dropout).Most of the time, the attrition is across experimental and control groups. It is a concern to the researchers, however, when attrition is not equal across the groups. Assume that we begin a study with two equivalent groups of participants.If more subjects leave one group than the others, then the two groups of subjects are most likely no longer equivalent, meaning the comparisons cannot be between groups. Why might we have differential attrition between the groups?Imagine we are conducting a study to the effects of a program aimed at reducing smokes. We randomly select a group of smokers and then randomly assign half to the control group and half to the experimental group. The experimental group participants in our program reduce smoking, but the heaviest smokers just cannot take the demands of a program and quit the program. When we take a posttest measure on smoking, only those participants who were originally light to moderate smokers are left in the experimental group. Comparing them to the control group would be pointless because the groups are no longer equivalent. Having a control group to determine whether there is differential attrition across the groups.

Diffusion of treatment .When subjects in a study are in close proximity to one another, potential threat to internal validity is diffusion of treatment– observed changes in the behaviors of subjects may be due to the information received from other subjects. For example, college students are frequently used as participants in research studies. Because many students live near one another and share classes, some students discuss an experiment in which they participated . If the other students were planning to participate in the study in the future, the treatment has now been compromised because they know how some of the subjects were treated during the study. They know what is involved in one or more of the conditions in the study, and this knowledge may affect how they respond in the study regardless of the condition to which they are assigned. To control for this confound, researchers might try to test the subjects in a study in large groups or within a short time span so they do not have time to communicate with one another. In addition, researchers should stress to the subjects the importance of not discussing the experiment with anyone until it has ended.

Experimenter and Subject effects.When researchers design experiments, they invest considerable time and effort in endeavor.Often this investment leads the researcher to consciously or unconsciously affect or bias the results of the study. For example,a researcher may unknowingly smile more when subjects are behaving in the predicted manner  and frown or grimace when subjects are behaving in a manner undesirable to the researcher. This type of experimenter effect is also referred to as experimenter bias or expectancy effects (see chapter 4) because the results of the study are biased by the experimenter’s expectations.

Experimental Design Research Methodology – Between-Subjects Experimental Designs

In a between-subjects design, the subjects in each group are different; that is, different people serve in the control and experimental groups. The idea behind experimentation, is that the researcher manipulates at least one variable (the independent variable) and measures at least two groups or conditions. In other words, one of the most basic ideas behind an experiment is that there are at least two groups to compare. We typically refer to these two groups or conditions as the control group and the experimental group. The control group is the group that serves as the baseline or “standard” condition. The experimental group is the group that receives some level of independent level. Although we describe the two groups, an experiment may involve the use of two experimental groups with no control group. In other words, there can be multiple experimental groups in experiments. 

      Experimentation involves control. First, we must control who is in the study. We want to have a sample that is representative of the population about whom we are about to generalize. Ideally, we accomplish these pates in each condition in each condition, so we should use random assignment of subjects in two conditions. By randomly assigning participants to conditions, we are trying to make two groups as equivalent as possible. In addition to controlling all of this, we observe behavioural changes when the independent variable is manipulated, we can then conclude that the independent variable caused these changes in dependent variable. 

   Let’s consider the example of smoking and cancer to examine the difference between correlational research and experimental research. Remember, we said that there are positive correlational between smoking and cancer. We also noted that no experimental with human supported a causal relationship between smoking and cancer. Why is this case? Let’s think about trying to design an experiment determine whether smoking causes cancer in Humans. Keep in mind potential ethical problems that might arise as we design this experiment. 

  Let’s first determine the independent variable. If you identified smoking behaviour as the independent variable, you are correct. The control group would be a group that does not smoke, and the experimental group would be the group that does smoke. To prevent confounding of our study by previous smoking behaviour, we could only see non-smokers. We would then randomly assig them into either of the smoking or non-smoking group. In addition to assigning a subject to one of the two conditions, we would control all other aspects of their lives. This means that all participants in the study must be treated exactly the duration of the study, expect the half of them would smoke on a regular basis (we would decide when and how much) and half of them would not smoke at all. We would then determine the length of time for many years for us to access any potential differences between groups. During this time, all aspects of their lives that might contribute to cancer would have to be controlled-held constant between the groups. 

                 FIGURE 9.1 Experimental study of the effects of smoking on cancer rates    

What would the dependent variable be? The dependent variable would be the incidence of cancer. After several years had passed, we would begin to take measures on the two groups to determine whether there were any differences in cancer rates. Thus, the cancer rate would be the dependent variable. If the control was maximized, and the experimental group and control group were treated exactly the same expect for the level of independent variable that they received, in any difference observe between the groups in cancer rate would have to be due to the only difference that existed between the groups- the independent variable of smoking. This experimental study is illustrated in Figure 9.1. 

 You should begin to appreciate the problems associated designing a true experiment to test the effects of smoking and cancer. First, it is not ethical to determine for people whether they smoke. Second, it is not feasible to control all aspects of these individual, lives of the period that is needed to conduct this study indicating that smoke causes cancer in humans.   

It is perfectly feasible, however, to conduct experimental studies on other topics. For example, if we want to study the effect of a certain type of mnemonic device (a study strategy) on memory, we could have one group use the device while studying. We could then give each person a memory test and look for a difference between performance in two groups. Assuming would have to be due to the independent variable. If the mnemonic group performed better, we could conclude the mnemonic device caused memory to improve. 

The memory study is also known as simple post-test-only control group design. We start with a control group and experimental group made up of equivalent subjects; we administrator the treatment (mnemonic or no mnemonic); and we take a post-test (after treatment) measure. It is very important that the experimental groups and control groups are equivalent because we want to be able to conclude that any differences observe differences observed between the two groups are due to the independent variable and not to some other difference between groups. We help to ensure equivalence of groups by using random assignment.