Is survey and questionnaire design a science?
Definitely, yes. Unfortunately, I know that too many surveys are constructed based on “instincts” and whatever else seems important to untrained people. But, this really is not the way to design good surveys, especially when trying to predict people’s behaviors. But, unfortunately, all too often questions are selected based on how interesting or appealing they sound or based on the favorite insights of ones’ superiors in the organization. Instead of a haphazard approach, one needs a systematic, explicit (and correct) theory about people’s behaviors, including factors like respondents’ beliefs, attitudes and intentions. Even when dealing with the simplest and shortest of questionnaires one has to know all these issues so that the right ones can be included or omitted. I usually follow Fishbein and Ajzen’s Theory of Reasoned Action. This approach is very general, while giving excellent validity. Designing surveys and questionnaires is often regarded as something anyone – even non-special
