The list on this page is a compilation of the questions the author has gotten on the use of questionnaires in usability engineering. Questions include:

• What is a questionnaire?
• Are there different kinds of questions?
• What are the advantages of using questionnaires in usability research?
• What are the disadvantages?
• How do questionnaires fit in with other HCI evaluation methods?
• What is meant by reliability?
• What is meant by validity?
• Should I develop my own questionnaire?
• What’s wrong with putting a quick-and-dirty questionnaire together?
• Factual-type of questionnaires are easy to do, though, aren’t they?
• What’s the difference between a questionnaire which gives you numbers and one that gives you free text comments?
• Can you mix factual and opinion questions, closed and open ended questions?
• How do you analyse open-ended questionnaires?
• What is a Likert-style questionnaire? One with five response choices to each statement, right?
• How can I tell if a question belongs to a Likert scale or not?
• How many response options should there be in a numeric questionnaire?
• How many anchors should a questionnaire have?
• My respondents are continually complaining about my questionnaire items. What can I do?
• What other kinds of questionnaires are there?
• Should favourable responses always be be checked on the left (or right) hand side of the scale?
• Is a long questionnaire better than a short one? How short can a questionnaire be?
• Is high statistical reliability the ‘gold standard’ to aim for?
• What’s the minimum and maximum figure for reliability?
• Can you tell if a respondent is lying?
• Why do some questionnaires have sub-scales?
• How do you go about identifying component sub-scales?
• How much can I change wordings by in a standardised opinion questionnaire?
• What’s the difference between a questionnaire and a checklist?
• Where can I find out more about questionnaires?

Questionnaires in Usability Engineering- A List of Frequently Asked Questions