More questionnaire commentary

Great effort folks!

Am finally down to building my own survey that will become the data collection tool for us.

Here are some examples of well-intended but imperfectly executed work. Can you ID whats off about these questions?

20. How much travel in terms of kms do you do?
Less than 10 kms 10-20 kms 21-30 kms Greater than 30 kms

21. How much do you travel on a Highway in a week?
Daily 1-3 times a week More than 3 times a week

22. How much travels do you within city in a week?
Daily 1-3 times a week More than 3 times a week

...

27. Are you satisfied from your vehicle?
Very Dissatisfied Not Satisfied Neutral Satisfied Very Satisfied

28. Are you satisfied by the service?
Very Dissatisfied Not Satisfied Neutral Satisfied Very Satisfied

Or take this one where the catch is slightly more subtle:

1. How much distance do you travel each day?
0-2 Km
2-5 Km
5-10 Km
10-20 Km
20-50 Km
>50 Km

I totally get an appreciate the thought process behind the question. Am only pointing out that the execution could be somewhat finer. The above, BTW, was the first question a respondent faced.

While brevity is a virtue, its shouldn't be at the expense of the main point itself. I would go more conversational on this question:
"How much distance. on the average, outside your home do you travel to go to work or for other purposes?" types.

Again, PLEEZE don't take me in the wrong sense on this one. Not saying my way or the highway, just pointing to newer ways to think from inside the respondent's shoes. Wouldn't want the respondent to become despondent now, would we?

4. Do you own a car/s?

Would phrase it as "How many cars do you own?" Easier and less ambiguous.


Now here's agreat question spoilt by minor sloppiness....

18. What is the BIGGEST negative impact of owning a car on your life?
Traffic - driving in heavy traffic is tough
Service - Owning a car means getting it serviced regularly
Costs - commuting by car is more expensive than public transport
Safety - i dislike driving because i am scared of having an accident
Time - commuting by car takes longer than commute by public transport
Parking space - finding parking space is very difficult
Security - if my car gets stolen i will lose a lot of money

Now the question that follows is an example of how to better do differential emphasis within question wording:

19. Which one ATTRIBUTE MOST influenced your decision your decision to buy that particular car? *
(Page Logic – answer determines which ‘in-depth’ section you go to : The logic here being that rather than asking each consumer indepth questions about parameters he may not have considered or be aware of, we are only trying to track awareness levels and granular data on the key parameters that consumers have mentioned as their MOST influencing factor)
Price
Power
Size
Fuel Economy
Looks
Brand Name/Manufacturer
Handling / Manoevrability
Reliability
Safety
Availability and terms of Finance

First off, its good that differential emphasis was thought of and deployed in the first place! I would have highlighted ONE and MOST in the question, not ATTRIBUTE.

Again, avoid phrasing like here:

40. Age? *

Better to speak full sentences here, doesn't take so much more and the respondent feels a tad respected, perhaps. I would go with "Pls write your age in years."

Lastly, the groups that wrote the questions I highlighted - pls don't take me in the wrong sense. I picked on you not because you did badly but because you did well otherwise.