Marketing: Research Using Questionnaires (GCSE)

Questionnaires are one the main tools in the use of field research. A questionnaire contains a series of questions which gather primary marketing research data for the business.

Questionnaires need to be designed carefully. The design of the questionnaire depends on the following:

Objectives of the questionnaire – what information is needed, at a minimum, from customers who complete the questions?

The type of person who is going to be asked – questions need be easy to understand and also easy to answer depending on the person who is answering.

How the questionnaire is going to be taken? – A face-to-face questionnaire might include different questions to an emailed questionnaire. An interviewer will be filling in a face-to-face questionnaire and the person may be able to ask for the question to be rephrased if they do not understand it the first time.

The types of questions that can be asked can be split into three groups:

Simple yes/no answers – e.g. have you seen the new advert for cornflakes

Multiple choice – a number of options are available to the answer

Sliding scale – a value is placed on an answer e.g. how do rate the performance of this product – less than satisfactory, satisfactory, excellent (or could use a scale of 1-10 with 10 being excellent and 1 being dreadful!).

Once the questionnaires are complete, the data is collated and analysed.