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Sensitive questions Some questions can cause respondents to feel anxiety, guilt, fear, or other strong emotions. These may include questions about sexual behavior, death and grieving, or illegal activities. Investigators have to decide whether this kind of topic should be investigated and, if so, whether questions that might be considered sensitive should be included in a questionnaire. There are no rules for deciding this kind of issue. Investigators have to rely on their knowledge of the group being studied, their own judgment of the ethical issues involved, and the views of other knowledgeable persons. When a sound reason exists for asking sensitive questions, the researcher has to decide where to place such questions in a questionnaire. Our suggestion is to place sensitive questions somewhere in the middle of the questionnaire. Beginning with routine or non-sensitive questions allows time for trust or rapport to be established with the respondent. Still, it is a good idea to provide a brief introduction to sensitive questions before you ask them. The explanation can describe why the questions are being asked and why answers to them are important. This will help prepare the respondent for the questions. Even so, there is no assurance that you will get valid, reliable responses. With sensitive questions, respondents are more likely to give false or misleading responses The final questionnaire Organizing the draft questionnaire After developing your questionnaire items, you will be ready to organize a draft questionnaire. This involves deciding on the order of items and adding an introduction. Decide on the order of items. For questionnaires with relatively few items this amounts to deciding the order of the various items. For longer questionnaires, items are grouped into sections by putting items that ask about the same thing together. Items asking about the background characteristics of the respondents, for example, are combined, as are those related to other topics. Whether or not sections are used, items should be placed in some kind of logical order. Time, for example, frequently provides a logical basis for ordering items. Other bases, such as life histories or the natural cycle of events in a village, can be used as well, but whatever basis is used should make sense to respondents. For additional thoughts on placement of questions, visit: Question Placement. Add an introduction. To complete the draft questionnaire you will need to add a section for use in introducing yourself to respondents. The introduction can also describe in general terms the purpose of the survey, why the respondent is being asked to provide information, and cover other points needed to get the interview started. Points to include in an introductory statement are summarized in Box 10.4.
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