Survey questionnaires are typically used for feedback research to determine the current status or "situation," or to estimate the distribution of characteristics in a population. Writing a survey questionnaire is one of the most critical stages in the survey development process. Much of survey questionnaire construction is common sense, but there are intricacies with which survey authors should be familiar. It is common sense to require that the concepts be clearly defined and questions unambiguously phrased; otherwise, the resulting data are apt to be seriously misleading.

To overcome this problem, Rehanstat offers a range of sample survey questionnaires, questions and responses to help you in constructing your survey questionnaires.

Here are some ground rules to keep in mind before writing the first word:

• Each question should relate directly to your survey questionnaire objectives.
• Every respondent should be able to answer every question (unless instructed otherwise).
• Each question should be phrased so that all respondents interpret it the same way.
• Each question should provide answers to what you need to know, not what would be nice to know.