Week 7 – Discussion Board

Discuss some of the key elements to developing a questionnaire.  Provide some example questions that you might include on a questionnaire that relates to crime.

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Below are several iterations of the answer to the question above.

Each answer contains a unique perspective.

Answer 1

There are specific key elements that someone is suppose to consider when developing a questionnaire. One of the elements to consider is the language used in the questionnaire. One is supposed to generate a clear and meaningful question, avoid confusing phrases while minimizing the risks of bias. Jargon and confusing phrases should be avoided and ensure short rather than long words and sentences.

Specific words in a questionnaire should not trigger biases unless that is the researcher’s conscious objective. A researcher may feel strongly about their topic, but they must be objective in wording questions within the questionnaire. The research should avoid making either disagreement or agreement disagreeable. The researcher should boost the utility of categories where questions with fixed reaction decisions should give one and only one potential response for each and every individual who is posed the question. The mode of data collection is significant in developing a questionnaire. When the researcher gathers data through an in-person interview or phone survey, the researcher’s wording and actions will have a major impact on the final results they obtain. Online surveys are heavily reliant on question wording and design.

Another key consideration is the ordering of the questions. Each survey question ought to follow a rational flow. Bouncing around starting with one subject then onto the next may confound the respondents and cause them to skip questions or forsake the review through and through. The survey should be pre-testing once completed to enable the researcher to identify any inconsistencies in the survey-taking experience (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

The researcher is supposed to create a title that is descriptive of the overall topic, ensuring that the question order does not influence responses. Major topic divisions should be created to help respondents understand the organization of the questionnaire. Instructions should be used throughout the questionnaire to minimize respondent confusion. numbers should be used to designate response choices for easy coding and data entry while making the questionnaire attractive and easy to complete. There should be introductory material to enhance the response rate. The bias of self-reported behavior is another consideration in a questionnaire. According to Peterson (2000), people have less precise memories of the mundane behaviors they engage in regularly, and they usually do not mentally categorize events by periods. Researchers should consider proper reference periods for the sort of conduct they need the respondents to review.

The consideration of these key elements of the questionnaire will ensure that the researcher is on their way to creating surveys that produce valid that will enable them to make informed decisions on their research area.

A questionnaire on Crime Within a Community

Aim: The research aims to understand the situation of neighborhood and community crime, the causes, and prevention measures that should/can be implemented.

1. Focus on crime and criminal activities; how safe do you think your community is?
2. Over the past two years, would you say that the crime rate has increased, remained the same, or decreased?
3. Does your have a neighborhood crime watch program in your area?
4. Have you purchased a gun for protection from crime?
5. How protected do you feel going out at night within your community?
6. What sort of crime do you feel is more of a issues within your community: local misdemeanors like defacing and burglary, fierce violations like assaults and armed robbery, or would they all be similar?
7. What do you feel is the main source of crime in your community?
8. What, if anything, do you feel could be done to decrease crime in your community?
9. What is your age?
10. Are you male or female?
11. What is your total household income?
12. What is the most significant level of education you have finished?

References

Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. (2020). The practise of research in criminology and criminal justice. Los Angeles: Sage

Peterson, R. A. (2000). Constructing effective questionnaires. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Answer 2

Survey research is a research in which information is obtained from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions about themselves or others (Bachman and Schutt, 2020). It is one of the most popular methods for research. Survey research need to obtain three features: versatility, efficiency, and generalizability. When you know what you are researching and need to start creating the questionnaire, you need to considering some of these key elements.

First, maintaining focus. Surveys often include too many irrelevant questions and fail to include the questions that the researchers later realize are crucial (Bachman, Schutt, 2020). In other words, when you ask questions that do not relate to your research, the research will not give you the answers you are looking for. Moreover, the questionnaire should be viewed as an integrated whole, in which each section and every question serves a clear purpose related to the study’s objective and is a complement to other sections or questions (Bachman and Schutt, 2020). When you leave the research behind and ask questions unrelated to the entirety of the research, you will leave also leave behind important information that is crucial to the research.

Second, build on existing instruments. When another researcher already has designed a set of questions to measure a key concept in your study, that existing set of questions can be called a survey instrument (Bachman and Schutt, 2020). Using previous data helps surveys, and if you have them, use them. Especially, if it is good data. By using existing data, the reliability and validity of your questionnaire can be improved (Beaver, 2021).

Third, consider translation. Translating does not mean changing the language of your questionnaire and presenting it to the respondents. Many first-generation immigrants are not fluent in English (Bachman and Schutt, 2020). Translating in research means, considering their culture and their perspective. It is time consuming, but it ensures accurate data.

Lastly, avoid vagueness. A well written questionnaire should ask questions in reference to specific times or events whenever possible (Beaver, 2021). When you ask vague questions, the respondents won’t know how to answer and even what they are answering. This will give you inaccurate data and will not be of any use to your research. For example, ask what city or town you live in instead of, residence location (Beaver, 2021).

If I were to present questions to a group for a study on crime rates in their community, examples of questions would include the following:

1. Are you a male or female?
2. What year were you born?
3. What is your highest level of education?
4. How do you feel in your community?
5. Does your community have a crime watch program?
6. Have you ever been a victim of crime?
7. How safe do you feel in your community?
8. How do you feel about the level of crime in your community?
9. Do you own a gun? Any protection?
10. Do you have cameras around your house?
11. Is your community gated?

References

Bachman, R. D., Schutt, R. K. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. California. Sage Publications.

Beaver, K.M. (2021). CCJ 5705: Week 7 notes and presentation. Florida State University.

Answer 3

A questionnaire is an instrument used to survey. It contains questions that allow the respondent to self-administer the survey on their own (Bachman et al, 2020). There are multiple key elements to make a useful questionnaire. A questionnaire must be focused and each question must be relevant. Further, the questionnaire must take into account the target audience. It is also important that the questions can be translated between a diverse society (Bachman et al, 2016). When developing a questionnaire, they can be built upon questionnaires that already exist. This will allow the reliability and validity to be enhanced (Beaver, 2021). 

When developing a questionnaire there can be both open-ended and closed-ended questions. Open-ended questions allow the respondent to write in their own answer. The question may ask specific questions for information, or the question may be more general and allow for a narrative response (Beaver, 2021). A closed-ended question has answers that the respondent must choose from (Beaver, 2021). This means the response choices should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive, including every possible case with one attribute (Bachman, 2020). Regardless if the question is open-ended or closed-ended, it should be clear and specific, avoid negative words and double negatives, avoid making a question with two questions built in, and it should include a reference period if necessary (Bachman et al., 2020). Other key points include trying to use shorter words and sentences, using correct grammar and ensuring the question is understandable because they cannot be clarified (Beaver, 2021).

A likert-type response is when the respondent indicates the extent to which they agree or disagree with statements (Bachman et al., 2020). An example of a likert-type question would be: “I feel safe walking in my neighborhood when it is dark” with potential responses being, “strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree.” Another example would be: “I feel the local police responded quickly when called” with the same response options. An example of an open-ended question is: “Describe your attitude towards the local police,” or: “Describe a time when you did not feel safe.” A closed-ended question would be: “Have you ever called the police to report a crime?” with response options: “yes, on one occasion” or “yes, on more than one occasion” or “never.” Another closed-ended question is: “Do you look at crime statistics before moving to a new city?” The response options would be: “I have never moved,” or “I have looked before I moved on one occasion,” or “I have looked before I moved on multiple occasions,” or “I have looked before everytime I have moved.”

References

Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. (2020). The practise of research in criminology and criminal justice. Los Angeles: Sage

Beaver, K. (2021). Week 7 Powerpoint. FSU.

Answer 4

Survey research should aim towards including several aspects to be successful. Some of the aspects are versatility and efficiency, an ability to study any social issue of interest with potential to learn more about individuals and organizations, have to be effective to provide quick and affordable data collection from a large number of people. Another one is generalizability, an effective way to gather information from the participants of a large population (Beaver, 2021). For proper questionnaire development, survey questions should be answered as the part of the questionnaire, not separately. Context becomes a crucial part of the development process since it will potentially impact how the questions are answered, if they are, or whether those questions are properly interpreted. Thus, thorough attention to design is equally important to the development of the questions it consists of.  Focus has to be consistent and straightforward—being clear and development of the relevant questions are more likely to provide an efficiency of the research. Without proper research objective formulation survey design will not be possible to successfully attempt, making focus a primary basis. Questionnaire should be contemplated as an “integrated whole”, where every section and every question have clear purposes and are interconnected (Bachman and Schutt, 2020, p. 218; Beaver, 2021).  

            Considering previous research while utilizing tested tools can benefit the study even greater, bolstering reliability and validity. Using an already designed set of questions that were previously used to measure a concept for a current study, makes it easier to address main issues while developing a questionnaire. Additionally, writing survey questions, a task that seems relatively easy from a first glance, might take an abundance of time and research, and still will potentially fail, if the study was poorly constructed. Survey questions should be written clear and straightforward in order to accurately measure characteristics, factual events, levels of knowledge etc.; unintended responses should be avoided at all costs (Bachman and Schutt, 2020, pp. 218-222; Beaver, 2021). Five main principles to consider while writing survey questions are writing clear and meaningful questions, exclude confusing phrasing, avoiding bias, excluding a possibility of the disagreement or agreement disagreeable, and attempt to minimize fence sitting or floating. A questionnaire question should be developed in a way that every participant would clearly understand since it will be impossible to paraphrase the question because the aim of the study might be lost while doing it (Beaver, 2021). Written questions differ greatly from natural interviews, making precise the requirements of clarity and straightforwardness. Those questions have to be understood by the vast number of participants and not tailored individually. Reference period, or a time frame should be considered because it will aid in answers interpretations. Reference period should be no longer than one month for a usual activity and no longer than 6 months for a rare event such as the victimization (Bachman and Schutt, 2020, pp.223-224).         

            Further, the pretesting of any developed questionnaire is vital. Pretesting will help developing questionnaires in several ways, such as concluding on the best way to write questions, answers and whether those questions will work for a particular study at all. Pretesting will aid in understanding if the researcher has enough financial resources, time, staff and if the design for the study is selected properly (Beaver, 2021).  Pretest questions might be attempted by the researcher himself or herself, might be discussed with others or key figures and if the question has to explained in detail, it should be rewritten. Focus groups might be utilized as well as cognitive interviews during the pretest stage of the questionnaire development (Bachman and Schutt, 2020, pp.235-236).  Some examples questions that may be possibly included on a questionnaire that relates to crime are:       

  1) Fixed-response question: On average, how much time do you spend per month resolving fraudulent charges on your bank account?

1 hour or less

2-3 hours

4-6 hours

Prefer not to answer

 2) Likert scale question: I am satisfied with crime rate control on campus

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree 

 3) Open-ended question: What changes local police have to make for you to feel more protected in your neighborhood?       

References

Beaver, K.M.  (2021).  Research Methods in Criminology I (CCJ 5705): Week 7 Lecture Notes

and Power Point Presentations.  Florida State University.

Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. (2020). The practice of research in criminology and criminal

justice (7th ed.). SAGE.

Answer 5

A questionnaire is the integral feature of the survey process. (Bachman & Schutt, 2020) Without this process important process, no researcher can achieve any desired results from a survey. It is the basis of the survey. No true survey can produce the researchers outcome if the questions in the survey are not centered around the focus of the research. Throughout the process of questionnaire design, this objective should be the primary basis for making decisions about what to include and exclude and what to emphasize or treat with less importance. (Bachman & Schutt, 2020)

One important key element in developing the survey questions, is to take into account the fact that even though, we live in the United States, this country is the melting-pot of the world when it comes to diversity. Not everyone can speak English. Not everyone that lives here in the United States is American or native born to the United States meaning that English is not everyones first language. Making questionnaires in different languages will take into account for missing data that would be otherwise go unaccounted for. But the process of translating surveys from English to any other language must be well planned and professionally done to effectively target the group in question.

Another key elements to developing a questionnaire is to be very careful about the format of the questions as in open-ended and closed-ended questions. Open-ended questions are excellent tools for obtaining respondents’ interpretations in greater detail and can often illuminate the flaws in other questions. (Bachman & Schutt, 2020)  Closed-ended questions are easy to process and analyze with the use of computers and statistical software and respondents are more likely to answer the question that researchers want them to answer. (Bachman & Schutt, 2020) 

I believe the most important element of the questionnaire development process would be that of constructing clear and meaningful questions. Creating questions that are too confusing, loaded with too much material, large vocabulary words not commonly known to the general public, or having questions with double-negatives causes surveys to have negative data outcomes. Researchers have to understand that many of the surveys sent out to the general public have to be easy to understand to the common lay person. All hope for achieving measurement validity is lost unless survey questions are clear and covey the intense meaning to respondents. (Bachman & Schutt, 2020)

Some example questions that I might include on a questionnaire that is related to crime would be as follows: (I focused on youthful offenders due to running into the Teen Court coordinator at the courthouse today while on duty.)

1. Have you or someone you know ever induced in a youth related crime?
2. Do you believe the current judicial punishments for youthful offenders is enough to deter youth from committing crimes again in the future?
3. Have you ever been a victim of a youth related crime?
4. Do you believe youthful offenders can be rehabilitated?
5. Have you or someone you know ever been mandated by the court to attend a “teen court” program?
6. Do you believe having youthful offenders in a program with other youthful offenders can lead to future youthful crimes?

References

Bachman, R., & Schutt, R.K. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice (7th Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Answer 6

“Survey research involves the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions” (Bachman & Schutt, 2020, p. 215). Survey research is one of the most popular methods for science research, with the questionnaire being one of the main features of the survey process. Survey research is so popular because it is an extremely efficient method for systematically collecting data from a wide spectrum of people and social environments. With that in mind, “without a well-designed questionnaire tailored to the study’s purposes, survey researchers have little hope of achieving their research goals” (Bachman & Schutt, 2020, p. 218). While there is no precise formula for writing a questionnaire, there are some key elements that are crucial to developing a well-designed one. 

       There are some basic guidelines that are key to developing the questions that are used in a questionnaire. Foremost, it is critical that the questions being produced are clear and meaningful. “All hope for achieving measurement validity is lost unless survey questions are clear and convey the intended meaning to respondents” (Bachman & Schutt, 2020, p. 223). The questions must be constructed in a way that is understood by people who are different from one another. With that being said, for research in a diverse society, translation into more than one language should be considered. If researchers are trying to obtain information from the population as a whole, then that should include people who do not speak English. This would especially ring true when it comes to research in the criminal justice system. It would be non-representative of the criminal population to have a questionnaire that did not cater to non-English speaking individuals. For example, “in the United States, in 2008, 15.3% of persons aged 18 or older were foreign born and more than half of these adults said they did not speak English very well” (Bachman & Schutt, 2020, p. 219). More key elements to developing a questionnaire would be avoiding negative words, double negatives, and double-barreled questions. An example of one of these would be “do you agree with the death penalty and that it is reserved for the most violent offenders?” When developing questions, researchers can also build on existing instruments. Other researchers may have designed questions to measure key concepts in a study, this can improve reliability and validity of your questionnaire (Beaver, 2021). Likert-type responses are also generally used in questionnaires to make for easier understanding and quick responses. Likert responses utilize a scale in which respondents indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with a given statement. In addition, fixed response questions can also be used for the respondents to choose from already pre-selected answers. This type of question makes data collection and analysis simpler, as well as makes for quick responses. On the other hand, researchers can also use open-ended questions if they want more detailed responses. 

Some examples of questions that you might include on a questionnaire that relates to crime are as follows:

1. Likert Scale Question: The death penalty is good for society

Strongly agree               Agree                 No opinion               Disagree             Strongly disagree 

2. Fixed-response question: How many times have you used marijuana in the last month?

0 times                 1-10 times                  11-20 times                  21-30 times                  30+ times

3. Open-ended question: What is your biggest concern about cybercrime? 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

References

Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. (2020). The practice of research in criminology and criminal justice (7th ed.). Sage.

Beaver, K.M.  (2021). Research Methods in Criminology I (CCJ 5705): Week 7 Lecture Notes and PowerPoint Presentations. Florida State University.

Answer 7

Survey research involves the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions. One method of formulating these questions id through the construction and use of effective questionnaires (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).  A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions for the purpose of gathering information from respondents through survey or statistical study.  The questionnaire is said to be the central focal point of the survey process and without one being well constructed and tailored to a study’s intent or purpose, research efforts would be in vain (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).  Additionally, we can say it is a set of standardized questions, often called items, which follow a fixed scheme to collect individual data about one or more specific topics.  Survey research remains the most popular method for data collection based on several attractive key features:  versatility, efficiency, and generalizability.

            A questionnaire must first remain focused on and should be guided be an inquiry with distinct parameters and a definitively targeted population.  The development of the questions is critical, as too often researchers find too many irrelevant questions included and/or fail to include critical questions (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).    Secondly, researched should avoid recreating the wheel.  If previous surveys provide relevant evidence pertaining to behaviors or data for a study, they should be utilized.  Additionally, researchers should consider offering the questionnaire into one or different languages, based on demographics.  In the Pew Hispanic Center Survey (2008), the United States had 15.3% of persons aged 18por older being foreign born and more than half of these adults did not speak English very well Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

            When constructing a questionnaire, one must consider the correct writing of the questions.  The questions should be clear and meaningful, avoid confusing phrases, minimize the risk of bias, avoid the use of jargon, and avoid vagueness (Beaver, 2021).  The length of the survey should be short enough that it takes the average user five minutes or less to complete and around 10 questions or less, if possible.  If I were to create a questionnaire on community crime perception, I might choose ten of the following questions: 

• What is your age?
• What is your total household income?
• What is the highest level of education?
• What do you feel is the main source of crime in your community?
• What type of crime do you feel is more of a problem in your community: property crimes such as vandalism and theft, violent crimes such as assault and armed robbery, or are they about the same?
• Do you feel more crimes in your community are committed by juveniles, adults, or are they about the same?
• In the past three years would you say the level of crime in your community has increased, stayed about the same, or decreased?
• How safe do you feel in your community?
• In the past three years, have you been a victim of crime in your community?
• Do you feel safe going out at night in your community?
• Do you own a gun for protection from crime?
• Do you own a dog for protection from crime?
• Do you feel there need to be more police patrols, about the same number of police patrols, or less police patrols in your community? (National Criminal Justice Training Center, n.d.)

References

Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. (2020). The practice of research in criminology and criminal justice (7th ed.). SAGE.

Beaver, K.M.  (2021).  Research Methods in Criminology I (CCJ 5705): Week 7 Lecture Notes and Power Point Presentations.  Florida State University.

Community Crime Perception Example Template for Surveys. SurveyShare.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://ncjtc-static.fvtc.edu/Resources/RS00002725.pdf (Links to an external site.).

Answer 8

One of the first elements necessary when a researcher develops a new questionnaire is an effective and descriptive title.  This title is going to relay to the respondent what the questionnaire is going to be about and will set the context for the entire survey.  If the title is off-putting or does not relay the right message to the respondent, the researcher might get inaccurate results (Bachman & Schutt, 2019, p. 237).

When a researcher wants to develop a questionnaire, they must first define the basic topics they want the questionnaire to cover and the specific variables within those topics.  Often it is best to organize the topics in categories or some order, but that is not necessary at this point because there will be time later in the process to adjust, polish, and order the questions the way the researcher believes them to be the most effective.  As this adjustment and organization takes place throughout the question writing process, the researcher will want to review the wording of the questions so that the entire questionnaire flows logically and is coherent (Bachman & Schutt, 2019, p. 236).

The order in which the researcher poses the questions is another important consideration as well as the use of multiple questions on the same topic.  When a question that contains an emotionally charged topic is presented to a respondent, the order of the questions can influence the responses (Bachman & Schutt, 2019, p. 237).

There are two types of questions commonly used by researchers when writing survey questions.  The first is the “open-ended” question.  These questions are used when the researcher wants to illicit a narrative response where the respondent can say or write whatever they feel to be appropriate.  When responding to the open-ended question the respondent can give a detailed response and there is no preconceived answer to guide them.  Open-ended questions are more in depth, subjective, and require many steps of evaluation prior to analysis.  The other type of question used by researchers is a “close-ended” question.  Commonly called the “fixed choice” or “forced choice,” the respondent has only listed possible responses to choose from.  These allow for a quick response, are very consistent, and can be analyzed more easily (Beaver, 2021).  

Finally, when a researcher is crafting questions, they must be clearly written and easily understandable.  Use correct grammar and words that are short and to the point.  Researchers should not use acronyms, slang, or jargon in writing their questions.  Avoid long rambling sentences.  If a research idea is complex, break it into several questions and address each component separately.  Most importantly, the researcher should not use words that inflame or incite the respondents’ emotions which could increase the risk of bias (Beaver, 2021).    

If I was a researcher and I was using a questionnaire to determine the prevalence of driver’s license suspensions and the events that resulted in the suspension, I would use some of the following questions.

In what year were you born?

In what year did you obtain your driver’s license?

In what state did you originally obtain your driver’s license?

In what state do you have a driver’s license currently?

Is your driver’s license valid currently?

Has your driver’s license ever been suspended?

If yes, was the suspension because of criminal charges, speeding, child support or other?

References

Bachman, R. D., & Schutt, R. K. (2019). The practice of research in criminology and criminal justice. SAGE Publications.

Beaver, K. (2021, October). Survey Research [PowerPoint]. FSU CCJ 5705. https://canvas.fsu.edu/courses/171422/assignments/1380583

Answer 9

There are several key elements in developing a questionnaire.  A questionnaire is the central feature of the survey process and must be well-designed and tailored to the study’s purposes (Bachman and Schutt, pg 217, 2020).  Surveys are very good at sampling from large populations and is appealing when sample generalizability is a research goal (Bachman and Schutt, pg 216, 2020).  It is important that the questionnaires are put together correctly and effectively so that the results can be used for further research.  

The researcher must ensure that the questionnaire is clear and concise.  You do not want to confuse the survey taker and make it even more difficult on them because this might affect the results and integrity of the survey.  You need to ensure that the language you use is applicable to the majority and that it will not be misconstrued.  Using the correct grammar and sentence structure is also important.  Organization is a key element.  The question order and the use of multiple questions can reveal attitudes about certain topics which can influence the responses (Bachman and Schutt, pg 237, 2020).

Along with organization, you must go over the questionnaire several times ensuring not just the accuracy and if it is laid out how you want it, but also to proofread it so that it is exactly how you want it in order to maximize the results.  The single most concern for researchers doing the survey is selecting good questions (Bachman and Schutt, pg 219, 2020).

Questionnaire example questions:

1) How long (in months or years) have you lived in this neighborhood?

2) Have you witnessed any crime around the neighborhood since you have lived there?

3) Do you personally know anyone in your neighborhood that has been the victim of a crime?

4) Have you personally been the victim of a crime?

5) (Please Circle either YES or NO) Do you feel safe from crime in your neighborhood? YES or NO

6) What would make you feel safer from crime in your area?

References

Bachman, R.D., and Schutt, R.K. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice (7^th ed.). Sage. 

Answer 10

Survey research collects information from a sample of individuals through their answers to questions (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).  Questionnaires are developed to help efficiently execute a survey (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). This instrument will contain the questions for self-administered surveys (Beaver, 2021). This design can vary depending on the survey method selected or other survey matters (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

One of the key elements to developing a good questionnaire is maintaining focus (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). The line of questions should be properly structured, and the target population should be defined (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). This is made easier if a research objective is “clearly formulated” to describe what exactly the aim of the study is (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). This will help shape the direction of the questions and what is important or what needs to be excluded (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

Another key element of questionnaires is building on existing instruments (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Researchers should use sets of questions that have already been established by previous research to measure a concept in their study (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).  Measurement tools have been established for numerous concepts already (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Researchers just have to find enough evidence from previous surveys to prove that those questions are a good measure for their concept (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

Another element that should be considered is translating questionnaires into more than one language (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). This will broaden the survey range to include a much more diverse sample (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Not only must the terms and questions be translated, but the concepts as well (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). What can be considered something in one culture could be considered something completely different in another. This needs to be accounted for when translating questionnaires.

Some questions that I might include in a questionnaire related to crime would study the concept of victimization. I could do this by first asking the respondent “Have you experienced victimization in the last 12 months?”. This can be used as a filter question to which any respondent who answers no would be told to skip to a later portion of the survey. I would then ask, “How many times in the last 12 months have you experienced victimization?” This question would have fixed response answers of “1 time”, “2-3 times”, “4-6 times”, “more than 6 times”. I would then ask, “What type of victimization have you experienced?” and include an exhaustive list of options. I could also utilize a Likert-type response question to see the extent of which the respondents agree or disagree with the following statement, “People who have been victimized are more likely to be victimized again”. These are just some examples of questions that can be utilized in a questionnaire.

References

Bachman, R. D., & Schutt, R. K. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Beaver, K. (2021). Week 5 Lecture Notes. Florida State University.

Need help with the CCJ 5705 Class or Assignments? We are your #1 Tutoring Partner. Talk to us via our communication channels – Email, Social Media, or Order form. Here is that link to the order form – https://prolifictutors.com/place-order/

Answer 11

Survey research is the most widely used data in criminological and social science research (Beaver, 2021). Survey research gathers information about a particular topic by asking a series of questions and coding the responses (Beaver, 2021). This can be done in several different ways, including questionnaires. A questionnaire is a survey instrument containing questions in a self-administered survey (Beaver, 2021). Questionnaires can have open-ended questions that allow respondents to fill in their answers or close-ended questions in which respondents choose from a list of possible responses. There is no precise formula for designing a questionnaire. However, some fundamental principles guide the designs of any questionnaire (Bachman et al., 2020, p.218). 

     A questionnaire should maintain focus by a guided and well-defined inquiry through a definitively targeted population (Bachman et al., 2020, p.218). Maintaining focus and formulating a clear research objective is imperative to begin a survey design. The aim should be the primary basis for including or excluding and emphasizing or treating with less importance (Bachman et al., 2020, p.218). Each section and question must serve a clear purpose concerning the study’s objective and complement the other areas and questions (Bachman et al., 2020, p.218). Using questions suggested by prior research, theory, experience, or other experts knowledgeable about the setting under investigation is one way to ensure that all the questions are relevant (Bachman et al., 2020, p.218). 

    A questionnaire should also build on previous existing instruments. If another researcher has already designed questions to measure a key concept related to your study, it is called a survey instrument (Bachman et al., 2020, p.218). If the evidence from the previous survey indicates that the already formulated questions provide a good measure of the concept or behaviors that are studied, researchers should use them (Bachman et al., 2020, p.218). For example, suppose you are researching the demographics of school districts, and you would like to use open and close-ended questions related to this topic that you know has already been learned. In that case, you can pull that research and build off other existing instruments. These questions that have already been used can provide reliability and validity and improve your questionnaire (Beaver, 2021). 

    The questionnaire should be translated into one or more languages to include everyone who could be participating in the survey. Those who are not fluent in English can only be included in a study if translated into their native language (Bachman et al., 2020, p.219). In 2008, 15.3% of persons 18 or older living in the U.S were foreign-born, with more than half stating they did not speak English very well (Bachman et al., 2020, p.219). Therefore, questionnaires have to consider actual native language translation and ensure that the concepts measured have equivalence in different cultures. 

    Researchers should also consider versatility, generalizability, efficiency, straightforward, meaningful questions, confusing jargon, and bias. Questionnaires with versatility can be used to study almost any social issue while learning about individuals and organizations. Generalizability is the most effective way to gather the information that represents a large population. Efficiency allows for data to be collected from that large population quickly and inexpensively. Also, straightforward, meaningful questions minimize the risk of bias and cancel out conceding jargon that could cause misrepresentation within the data. These elements, including maintaining focus, building on existing features, and translation, are essential when developing a questionnaire. 

Assault Questionnaire 

• What is your age ?
• What do you identify as ? 
• Have you ever been assaulted ?
• Has anyone you know ever been assualted ?
• Have you ever witnessed an assault ?
• How would you rate your knowledge on assault prevention? 

1: none

2: very little 

3: some 

4: very high

5: excellent 

References

Bachman, R. D., Schutt, R. K. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. California. Sage Publications.

Beaver, K.M. (2021). CCJ 5705: Week 7 notes and presentation. Florida State University.

Answer 12

A survey is the process of collecting information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions. Surveys have become an important tool throughout America and they are utilized on a daily basis by social scientists, news organizations, politicians, marketers, public sector, and the private sector. The group of questions used in the survey are referred to the questionnaire and if created correctly, can be a valuable asset to any organization (Bachman & Schutt, 2011, p. 206). Although the specific design of the questionnaire can vary based on the type of survey conducted, several key principles and systematic procedures should be considered while developing the questionnaire.

            First of all, it is imperative to maintain consistent focus and provide a clear conception of both the research problem and the population to be sampled (Bachman & Schutt, 2011, p. 207). It is important to ensure the questions in the questionnaire all serve a purpose that complements not only a specific section, but the questionnaire as a whole. One way to complete this is to use precise questions that are not left up to interpretation. Each question should be based on the questions before and after them. Precise questions are critical to survey research and too often, the surveys contain poor-written or vague questions (Beaver, Week 7 Notes, 2021).

            Another method used to create a quality questionnaire is by building on existing instruments (surveys). If a previous survey has been conducted and it showed a good measure on similar topics, or even part of the survey, then it would be a good idea to use pieces of this survey to strengthen the questionnaire, all while making it different enough to make it provide a good measure of your specific concept (Bachman & Schutt, 2011, p. 208). When creating the questionnaire, there are three types of questions that can be used: open ended, interpretative, and closed-ended. Open ended questions are questions that do not have a set range of possible answers. For example, if you were to conduct a survey on a local police department, a question may be “what are your opinions on the response times for your local agency?” This allows the respondent to answer freely without limitations. This being said, this type of question are usually only for exploratory purposes when the researcher wants to uncover as much information as possible about an unknown topic (Bachman & Schutt, 2011, p. 208). By asking the open-ended questions, the researcher can create a base line for the questions to place on the questionnaire. Interpretive questions are used after a questionnaire has been completed to gain a better understanding of the answers provided by the original open-ended questions. Using interpretive questions gives the researcher an opportunity to better understand the responses from the open-ended questions; however, it is important that these questions be used when the survey has not been pre-tested (Bachman & Schutt, 2011, p. 209). Lastly, closed-ended questions involve asking the respondent a question that has a set list of possible answers. These questions leave little to interpretation and offer a straight-forward response. Referring back to the survey on the response times for local law enforcement, rather than leaving the answer open for a response of the person’s choosing, the answers could be as simple as “fast, slow, and unknown”. Open-ended questions are primarily used with groups involving a large number of people as the limited answers make it easier to process and analyze (Bachman & Schutt, 2011, p. 210). Though closed-ended questions can be a valuable tool, it is important to remember that unless the survey is carefully thought out, the options for the answers can make people tend to answer in a way that is preferred to the researcher.

            When creating the questions, whether open-ended or closed-ended, it is important to recognize several things. First of all, it is important to write clear and meaningful questions. Writing clear questions may seem easy, but the researcher should keep in mind that these questions will be asked to many different people, which will encompass people from different race, ethnicity, morals, values, and cultures. These questions cannot be re-phrased for individual people as it would change the validity of the question and potentially produce a false answer (Bachman & Schutt, 2011, p. 210). Language barriers and dialect should be considered also because different phrases in different parts of the country can produce two totally different results. Additionally, good grammar should be used to include avoiding negatives and double negatives, as well as paraphrasing. Questions with double negatives can be especially confusing for respondents and can alter the outcome of the survey just because the respondent did not understand the question. Double-barreled questions are also to be avoided as they ask more than one question at a time (Bachman & Schutt, 2011, p. 214). The obvious problem here is that the responded may agree with half of the question, and disagree with the second half. Either way the respondent chooses will be an incorrect answer to some degree, which will alter the results of the survey.  Below is a list of 10 questions I would use to survey the general public’s view on law enforcement in Polk County. This survey would be used as part of an effort to increase the number of law enforcement personnel.

• Do you live within the jurisdiction of Polk County? (yes or no).
• Have you had to call law enforcement to your residence within the last six months for any reason? (yes or no).

If number one or number two answered no, they would be excluded from the survey.

• How did you feel about the response time from law enforcement? (satisfied, unsatisfied, neutral).
• How many officers responded to the scene of your call? (1-2, 2-4, more than 4).
• Was anyone arrested as a result your call? (yes, no, unsure).
• Did you feel as law enforcement handled the situation adequately? (yes, no, neutral).
• Have you noticed an increase in law enforcement presence in the area in the last six months? (yes, no, neutral).
• Do you feel like additional law enforcement presence would make you feel safer at home? (yes, no neutral).
• Do you feel like your neighborhood is safer now than it was 10 years ago? (yes, no, neutral).
• Do you think an increase in law enforcement officers would benefit the community as a whole? (yes, no, neutral).

References

Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. (2011). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Beaver, K.M. (2021). CCJ 5705: Week 7 notes and presentation. Florida State University.

Answer 13

Developing a questionnaire has many important steps that must be taken in order to obtain accurate information. Surveys are appealing due to their efficiency, versatility and generalizability. (Bachmann and Schutt, 2019).

It is crucial to maintain focus; include relevant questions and keep out anything that isn’t related to your survey topic. (Beaver, 2021) “One way to ensure that all possibly relevant questions re asked is to use questions suggested by prior research.” (Bachmann and Schutt, 2019). This leads us into the next important element, building on existing instruments. When questions related to your own study have previously been developed and are accurate, it is a good idea to use them, and keep your questions organized.

It’s also important to consider language barriers. The United States is a very diverse country, so making sure that language is clear and concise to everyone who is participating in your study. It is not enough to have your questions translated, you must be sure that each survey question is worded correctly and is understood by your participants.  (Bachmann and Schutt, 2019)

The manner which you write your questionnaire is very critical. In order to receive accurate information, you must remember that wording is everything.  If any question is unclear or confusing, it can lead to inaccurate responses. This also applies to any complex questions; it is best to break it down into several parts in order to be precise about what you are asking. Open ended and closed ended questions are very popular when conducting surveys. An open-ended questionnaire calls for a detailed or fill-in response, while close-ended questions only require a quick response, or a choice answer, typically “yes”, “no”, or “no opinion”.

It is also important to avoid wording your questions in any vague or confusing manner. Using good grammar is one simple way to avoid doing so. A “short and sweet” question and response is the safest way to go. Asking a vague or complicated question could cause your respondent to lose focus or provide an inaccurate answer if they do not understand. It is important to use a reference period, or time frame, avoid double negatives as well as double-barreled questions. Also, do not ask demographic information that is not related to your study. (Beaver, 2021)

Likert questions are another popular style of a survey questionnaire. These questions are statements that call for a degree of intensity with an answer. The responses are most frequently asking the intensity of your opinion: “strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree” are often the selections to choose from.

 “No questionnaire should be considered ready for use until it has been pretested.” (Bachmann and Schutt, 2019). You can begin with trying out your questions on yourself, friends and/or colleagues, and then a small sample of people from the population you are studying. It is also a good idea to converse with other researchers for feedback. 

Example of a survey questionnaire: What are the general feelings towards Law Enforcement?

What is your gender?   M/F

What is your age?     0-18 / 19-28 / 29-38 / 39-48 / 49-58 / 59-68 / 69-78 / 79-99

What is your race?     W/B/H/A/O

Have you ever been accused of a crime? Y/N

Has anyone you know ever been accused of a crime? Y/N

Do you believe you/family were treated fairly by LEO? Y/N

Do you feel safe in your community? Y/N

Do you always lock your house/car? Y/N

Do you trust your local police department? Y/N

Answer 14

As we have learned in this week’s chapter reading and notes, developing a questionnaire for survey research is not as straightforward as it may appear on the outset. Developing a questionnaire is complex, and an effective questionnaire requires careful development and precision of the questionnaire as a whole.

An important key element in developing a questionnaire is setting context. Context can be set by the title of the questionnaire itself, as well as the questions that are being asked in the questionnaire. The context of the questionnaire can make a huge impact on how the respondent interprets the questions being asked, as well as if they decide to even answer them at all (Beaver, 2021). Question order and the use of multiple questions are important elements of a questionnaire’s development. Question order and use of multiple questions can also play a role in setting the context of a questionnaire and how the questions are interpreted by the respondent. An excellent example the textbook gave is the example of a 2013 Gallup poll that revealed that 64% of those surveyed approved of the death penalty for murder. When the survey gave the alternative punishment of LWOP, the support of the death penalty for murder declined to 50% from 64%. This indicates that the strength of the public support for the death penalty cannot be accurately measured by simply asking on a questionnaire if the respondent supports the death penalty (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

The organization of the questionnaire is also a key element in developing a questionnaire. There are several guidelines that questionnaires should adhere to such as dividing topics within a questionnaire into separate sections, providing complete instructions to avoid confusion, and ensuring that the questionnaire itself is attractive and easy for the respondent to complete (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Having complete and detailed instructions is incredibly important to ensure that the respondent can see everything that needs to be answered as to not miss part of a question or section. The instructions should also be written in a neutral manner that is not likely to influence any responses (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

As for the questions themselves, they should maintain consistent focus and be questions that are clear and meaningful. Without concise and meaningful questions, reliability and validity cannot be achieved. Researchers developing a questionnaire should avoid any phrasing that could be perceived as confusing, and avoid any vagueness. The questions should be to the point and not have any errors in grammar. Keeping the questions clear and to the point helps to keep the respondent’s attention and focus (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Researchers, while creating questions, should take care to avoid negative words and double negatives, avoid double-barreled questions, and avoid agreement bias. People tend to agree with a statement simply to avoid seeming disagreeable. Questions should be impartial to avoid this agreement bias (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

Lastly, the response choices provided for the questions on a questionnaire are just as important as the questions themselves and are key to developing a questionnaire. Response choices should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive so that every respondent has only one choice in the responses that apply to them. Fence-sitting and floating play an important role in creating responses in a questionnaire. Fence sitting should be avoided, but can also be difficult to know whether to include or not because if people truly do not have a strong opinion on a topic, they may become frustrated and not answer the question altogether if they do not have an “undecided” type response choice to choose from. On the other hand, people who just want to get through a questionnaire quickly may choose an “undecided” option even if they really do have an opinion just to get through the questionnaire quickly. Avoiding floaters is another important aspect to keep in mind when it comes to response choices because you do not want respondents responding to questions on topics that they really do not have any information about. You can avoid this problem by providing context and detailed information to the respondent about the topic in the question or possibly providing a “Don’t know” option to avoid people being forced to answer the question (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Many of these different options and suggestions have their pros and cons because you do not want your respondents to be able to take the easy way out and provide only neutral responses, but you also do not want the results to possibly be inaccurate with respondents just selecting random answers if they do not have a neutral response choice provided to them.

Some examples of questions I would ask on a questionnaire that relates to crime would be:

1. What is your age?

A. 18-24

B. 25-35

C. 36-45

D. 46- 55

E. 56 or older

2. In the past year would you say the level of crime in your community has

A. increased

B. Decreased

C. Stayed the same

3. How safe do you feel going outside at night in your community?

A. Very safe

B. Safe

C. Unsafe

D. Very unsafe

4. Is there a neighborhood crime watch program in your community?

A. Yes

B. No

C. Unsure

5. Are you a member of a neighborhood crime watch program in your community?

A. Yes

B. No

C. There is not a neighborhood crime watch program in my community. 

6. Do you currently own security cameras?

A. Yes

B. No

References

Bachman, R. D., Schutt, R. K. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. California. Sage Publications.

Beaver, K.M. (2021). CCJ 5705: Week 7 notes and presentation. Florida State University.

Answer 15

The questionnaire (or interview schedule, as it is often called in interview-based studies) is the central feature of the survey process. Without a well-designed questionnaire tailored to the study’s purposes, survey researchers have little hope of achieving their research goals. The correct design of a questionnaire varies with the specific survey method used and other particulars of a survey project. There is no precise formula for a well-designed questionnaire. Nonetheless, some key principles should guide the design of any questionnaire, and some systematic procedures should be considered for refining it (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

Maintain Focus

A survey (with the exception of an omnibus survey) should be guided by a well-defined inquiry and a definitively targeted population. Until the research objective is clearly formulated, survey design cannot begin. Throughout the process of questionnaire design, this objective should be the primary basis for making decisions about what to include and exclude and what to emphasize or treat with less importance (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

Build on Existing Instruments

If evidence from previous surveys indicates that these already-formulated questions provide a good measure of the concept or behaviors you are interested in, then use them (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

Research in a Diverse Society: Consider Translation

In the 21^st century, no survey plan in the United States or many other countries can be considered complete until this issue has been considered. In the United States in 2008, 15.3% of persons aged 18 years and older were foreign born (Pew Hispanic Center 2008), and more than half of these adults said that they did not speak English very well (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

Basic Principles of Writing Survey Questions

• Write Clear and Meaningful Questions
• Avoid Confusing Phrasing
• Avoid Making Either Disagreement or Agreement Disagreeable
• Maximize the Utility of Response Categories Minimize Fence-Sitting and Floating (Beaver Presentation, 2021).

Basic Types of Questions

Open-ended and Closed-ended (Beaver Presentation, 2021).

Don’t Forget to Pretest 

No questionnaire should be considered ready for use until it has been pretested. You need some external feedback, and the more of it, the better (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

Example Questions: 

1. Has anyone attacked or threatened you in any of these ways:
2. With any weapon—for instance, a gun or knife
3. With anything like a baseball bat, frying pan, scissors, or stick
4. By something thrown, such as a rock or bottle
5. Any grabbing, punching, or choking
6. Any rape, attempted rape, or other type of sexual assault
7. Any face-to-face threats

OR

1. Any attack or threat or use of force by anyone at all? Please mention it even if you were not certain it was a crime.
2. Have you been forced or coerced to engage in unwanted sexual activity by
3. Someone you didn’t know before
4. A casual acquaintance or
5. Someone you know well.
6. Did you call the police to report something that happened to you which thought was a crime (Bachman & Schutt, 2020)?

References

Bachman, R. D., and Schutt, R. K., The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice (2020) California, Sage

Beaver, K. M. Research Methods in Criminology I, Notes (2021)

Beaver, K. M., Research Methods in Criminology I, Presentation (2021)

Answer 16

A successful research questionnaire contains quality questioning techniques free of confusion and provides feedback that is of value to the researcher. It is important to develop questions that provide the respondent a clear understanding of what is being asked of them. Survey questions should be worded in a way that the answer would be same if asked numerous times (p.218, (Bachman & Schutt, n.d.). The content of the survey should capture the respondent’s attention, avoid reason to alter their response, and provide data that supports the research outcome in a way that does not waste time or effort in its completion.

The questioning techniques of the survey are invaluable to the research results. It is important to identify the objective of the survey and the outcome as well. A survey with open-ended questions provides the respondent with free rein to answer how they deem fit. The questionnaire can ask questions in a way that provide the participant a range of answers. One way is known as the Likert-Typer response that gives the person a right and left limit for their answer (p.226, (Bachman & Schutt, n.d.). An example of this is the Strongly Agree, Somewhat Agree, Neutral, Somewhat Disagree, or Strongly Disagree for the response.

The choice of questioning dictates the amount of work and manpower that will be used to finalize the research project. Depending on the questioning format, results and findings could differ in overall time of completion. Overall, is important to identify the questioning style of the survey and the order or flow of the questions., Ensure it is free of any bias or questions that lead the respondent to answering in a way that favors the researcher’s hypothesis.

Some questions I would like to ask in a survey to individuals arriving to the Florida State Prison System would begin with demographic questions. I would provide a fixed response questionnaire regarding the reasoning for entering the prison system (p.225, (Bachman & Schutt, n.d.). Questions could be, “what is the expected timeframe of your sentence’? Answers would be broken down as 1 year or less, 2-5 years, 6-10 years, 11-15 years, or 16 or more years. Questions would lead into testing the offender’s responsibility for being sent to prison. Questions like, “Did illegal substance abuse play a role in your actions leading up to entering the prison system”? Answers could be yes, no, somewhat, or I have never abused illegal drugs.

Answer 17

Questionnaires provide a relatively cheap, quick, and efficient way of obtaining large amounts of information from a large sample of people (Mvorganizing.Org, 2021). A questionnaire should have a well-defined inquiry and a definitively targeted population. Some essential elements of a questionnaire are to define the subject and your targeted population (Bachman, 2019). Once the population is determined you need to make sure your questionnaire has the correct language for your audience. Lastly is the most important part of the questionnaire. It’s formulating your questions.

Determining your target subject and audience is relatively simple yet important. You need to determine what information you want from the questionnaire and from what group of people. For example, if I made a questionnaire and wanted to know what crimes a majority of young adults were most afraid of compared to older adults. So now I have my subject and my population (ages 18-25 and 65-70).

Once I have the subject and targeted population you need to determine the right language for the questionnaire. This isn’t just figuring out what language your targeted audience speaks, although that is important. Its also determining that your concepts and methods are equivalent in different cultures. Building on the last example, the age groups are quite different so finding a questionnaire method that works for both is difficult. You cant have a questionnaire that is accessible from a QR code because the older population will have a difficult time accessing it. On the other side, you don’t want to issue the questionnaire in the newspaper because the younger generation doesn’t use paper newspapers anymore.

Once you determine the language of your questionnaire it’s time to formulate the questions. Questions are the centerpiece of the questionnaire (Beaver, K, 2021). All hope for achieving measurement validity is lost unless survey questions are clear and convey the intended meaning to respondents (Bachman, 2019). Your questions should be clear and convey your meaning of the questionnaire while also avoiding long worded questions. Your question’s order should flow and make sense. You don’t want to ask serious subject questions then in the middle ask how old they are or what color they like. Your questions shouldn’t influence responses or have only answers that support your findings. For example, don’t ask why are you afraid of cyber fishing crimes. That immediately locks in the population to be scared of cyberattacks when they might not be. Questions are the most important part of the questionnaire and need the most attention when developing them.

Building on my previous example some example questions are

1. What year were you born?
2. What is your highest education level?
3. Do you identify as male or female?

Then I would switch to a likert scale questions

1. I am afraid of home invasions
2. I am afraid of cyber crimes

Etc…

All of these with the answer option of Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree 

These questions would let me know the age of the population, education level and gender, while also letting me know which crimes scare them the most. Essentially answering my question.

References

“What Are The Main Parts Components Of A Survey Questionnaire? – Mvorganizing.Org”. Mvorganizing.Org, 2021,

https://www.mvorganizing.org/what-are-the-main-parts-components-of-a-survey-questionnaire/.  (Links to an external site.)

Bachman, R. D., & Schutt, R. K. (2019). The practice of research in criminology and criminal justice. SAGE Publications.

Beaver, K. (2021, October). Survey Research [PowerPoint]. FSU CCJ 5705. https://canvas.fsu.edu/courses/171422/assignments/1380583

Answer 18

A questionnaire is a survey instrument containing the questions in a self-administered survey (Beaver, 2021).  To develop an effective questionnaire, we must focus on key elements, to include identifying the target population, identifying the information relevant to survey questions, choosing a survey method, developing survey questions, and including clear and concise wording. A survey should be guided by a well-defined inquiry and a definitively targeted population (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Survey researchers must maintain focus when developing a questionnaire and identifying their target respondents. If the aim is to identify levels of female victimization on college campuses, surveying working professionals is not the ideal target group. If our goal is to explore and explain female  victimization on college campuses, the questions included on the survey must be relevant to this topic. Context created by the questionnaire impacts how individual questions are interpreted and whether they are even answered (Beaver, 2021). As a result, survey researchers must pay close attention to the design of the questionnaire as well as the individual questions. Questions are the centerpiece of survey research and to ensure that all possibly relevant questions are asked, researchers can use questions suggested by prior research, theory or experience (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Given the example of female victimization on college campuses, one should consider a random phone survey of females enrolled in college or university programs. To anonymously target the female college population researchers would need to compile a list of possible respondents and randomly select them for inclusion from that list. A survey question to consider could be “Since the semester began, has anyone made you have sexual intercourse by using force or threats of harm?” Another example of a question is “Were you physically injured when this happened?” Using filter questions, we could say “If Yes, go to question XX. If No, go to question X.” The following question could include type of injury i.e., bruising, bleeding, broken bones, unconsciousness etc. Survey questions must be asked of many people, not only one person (Beaver, 2021). Survey questions must be interpreted and understood the same way by people who differ in many ways (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Ultimately, we have discovered that many key elements are part of building an efficient and appropriate questionnaire. Each element is a building block to the final product, however, it appears the survey questions themselves are the glue that holds the final product together.

References

Bachman, R. D., Schutt, R. K. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. California. Sage Publications.

Beaver, K.M. (2021). CCJ 5705: Week 7 notes and presentation. Florida State University.

Answer 19

Surveys used by researchers are based around the questionnaire that are used. Bachman & Schutt (2020) defines the questionnaire as the central feature of the survey process and further explains that without a well-designed questionnaire a researcher cannot achieve their research goals. When a researcher develops their survey, or questionnaire, they must maintain their focus. They must “be sure to include relevant questions and exclude irrelevant ones” (Beaver, 2021). There should be a defined target population when developing a questionnaire. Each question should serve a purpose for your research and it should complement other sections or questions within your survey. The use of survey instruments, or a set of questions that another researcher has already designed and used. Don’t re-invent the wheel, use other researcher’s questions and use their experience and expertise. Another consideration that Bachman & Schutt (2020) brings up is that you might need to translate your questionnaire into different languages. This sounds easy than it is though, because you can’t simply put your questions into Google translate and then call it good. A big part of the translation piece is making sure that the concepts you are measuring translate to the questions being asked.

Survey questions are often broken down to two categories. You have those that have an explicit response and those that don’t. An explicit response comes from a question with fixed responses where as a question without an explicit response is more of the open ended question. The open ended question can be used as a tool for the researcher to get a better understanding of a respondent’s response to a fixed answer question. This can introduce its own issues as the open ended response might actually contradict the fixed response and the amount of time it might take a researcher to organize the responses to open ended questions. Because of this many researchers, especially those that are surveying a large amount of people will likely focused on closed ended questions. A researchers that uses closed ended questions has to take the time to make sure that the questions being asked are clear and the responses need to be carefully chosen to cover the range of possible answers; otherwise the closed ended question could also not give the researcher the response that they are looking for. When designing questions clear and meaningful questions you should avoid confusing phrasing and vagueness, avoid negative words and double negatives, avoid double-barreled questions, and avoid making either disagreement or agreement disagreeable. There are a lot of things to avoid and to do to when developing a questionnaire. There are a lot of things to consider when developing a questionnaire and I’m not sure that there is a single tried and true method but there are a lot examples and resources available to try to create the best questions.

Some examples of questions I might include on a crime questionnaire are:

Have you ever been a victim of a robbery?

In the last year how many times have you been a victim of robbery?

In the last 5 years how many times have you been a victim of robbery?

Did you report the robbery to the police every time?

If not, have you ever reported robbery to the police?

Have you committed robbery yourself?

Are you aware of others in your neighborhood who have been victims of robbery?

References

Bachman, R. & Schutt, R. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Thousand Oaks, California. SAGE

Beaver, K.(2021) Week 7 Notes and Presentation. Florida State University.

Answer 20

According to (Beaver, 2021), a questionnaire is a survey instrument that consist of the questions for a self-administered survey. If a questionnaire is poorly designed and not tailored to the study’s purposes, survey researchers have low probability of achieving their research goals (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). The right design of a questionnaire differs with the specific survey method being utilized and further specifics of a survey development (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). There is no exact formula to develop a well-designed questionnaire, however, there are some key elements that guide the development of any questionnaire (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

One key element of developing a questionnaire is identifying the research aim and the goal of your questionnaire (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). According to (Bachman & Schutt, 2020), a researcher must decide does the study seek to describe a phenomenon, explain some behavior or explore a certain type of social relationship? After the research aim and goal are identified the targeted population or respondents must be defined (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). (Bachman & Schutt, 2020) asserts, is the research aimed to describe for a specific population or everyone? Once the target population or respondents have been defined, questions should be developed (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).

 When developing questions, decisions regarding what to include and exclude and what to emphasize and deemphasize should be made and every question should be relevant to the study’s objective and is a counterpart to other sections and questions (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Once relevant questions have been developed, a researcher can then choose the type of questions to utilize on the questionnaire (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). According to (Bachman & Schutt, 2020), questions are the focus of survey research, the way they are worded can have a great impact on the way respondents answer them. Further, the formulation and layout of questions is an important aspect (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). (Bachman & Schutt, 2020) points out, if evidence from previous questionnaires and surveys indicates that certain already-formulated questions provide a good measure of the concept of interest, then those formulated questions should be used.

According to (Bachman & Schutt, 2020) after adhering to the question-writing guidelines, external feedback is needed, so the questionnaire should be pretested. A researcher should try answering the questions and revising it (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Afterwards, the questionnaire should be administered to colleagues or other friends and then revised (Bachman & Schutt, 2020). Subsequently, a small sample of individuals from the population of study should try out the questionnaire and further revisions can be made. 

Example Questions

1. In the past 6 months, have you purchased any illegal substances for personal use (e.g. marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines?
   1. Yes
   2. No
   3. Rather not say
2. In the past 6 months, have you used any illegal substances such as marijuana or cocaine?
   1. Yes
   2. No
   3. Rather not say
3. Does anyone who lives in the same home as you use illegal substances?
   1. Yes
   2. No
   3. Rather not say

References

Bachman, R., & Schutt, R.K. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice (7^th Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage pp. 214-268.

Beaver, K. (2021). Week 6 Lecture Notes. Florida State University.

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