Research Instrument

These research instruments or tools are ways of gathering data. Without

them, data would be impossible to put in hand. The most common instrument
or tool of research for obtaining the data beyond the physical reach of the
observer may be sent to human beings who are thousands of miles away or just
around the corner.

We often require information on a range of subjects and to obtain that

information may be acquired tom ask peoples’ questions. Questionnaires can
be designed and used to collect a vast quantity of data from a variety of
respondents. They have many benefits over other forms of data collection when
they are usually inexpensive to administer; very little training is needed to
develop them, and they can be easily and quickly analyzed once completed.

Two Forms of Questionnaire

1. Closed-form / Closed-ended are questions that allow someone to give a
free-form answer.

2. Open form / Open-ended can be answered with “Yes” or “No,” or they

have a limited set of possible answers (such as A, B, C, or All of the Above).
Closed-ended questions are often good for surveys because you get higher
response rates when users don’t have to type so much. Also, answers to closed-
ended questions can easily be analyzed statistically, which is what you usually
want to do with survey data.

Guidelines in Using the Questionnaire

1. Clarity of language
2. Singleness of purpose
3. Relevant to the objective of the study
4. Correct grammar

Principles to consider in constructing a questionnaire

1. Define or qualify terms that could easily be misinterpreted

2. Be careful in using descriptive adjectives and adverbs that have no agreed-
upon meaning
3. Be careful of inadequate alternatives
4. Beware of a double negative
5. Avoid the double-barreled question
6. Underline the word if you wish to indicate special emphasis
7. When asking for rating or comparisons a point of reference is necessary
8. Avoid unwarranted assumptions
9. Phrase questions so that they are appropriate for all respondents
10. Design question that will give a complete answer
11. Provide for the systematic qualification of response
12. Consider the possibility of classifying the respondents yourself rather than
having the respondents choose categories

Characteristics of a good research instrument

• Valid and reliable

• Based on a conceptual framework, or the researcher's understanding of
how the particular variables in the study connect
• Must gather data suitable for and relevant to the research topic
• Able to test hypothesis and/or answer proposed research questions
under investigation
• Free of bias and appropriate for the context, culture, and diversity of the
study site
● Contains clear and definite instructions to use the instrument
www.tc.columbia.edu/media/administration/institutional..

Quantitative Research Tools. The most used quantitative research technique

is the survey. In a quantitative survey, you may use short-answer responses or
dichotomous questions, multiple choice answers, paragraphs, checkboxes,
dropdown, linear scale, multiple choice grid, and more. As you can see various
question formats can be adapted to your research needs.
Here are some examples of dichotomous, multiple-choice, ranch
ordering scaling, rating scale, staple scale
Likert scale, rating system, used in questionnaires, that is designed to
measure people’s attitudes, opinions, or perceptions. Subjects choose from a
range of possible responses to a specific question or statement; responses
typically include “strongly agree,” “agree,” “neutral,” “disagree,” and “strongly
disagree.” Often, the categories of response are coded numerically, in which
case the numerical values must be defined for that specific study, such as 1 =
strongly agree, 2 = agree, and so on. The Likert scale is named for American
social scientist Rensis Likert, who devised the approach in 1932.
Likert scales are widely used in social and educational research. When
using Likert scales, the researcher must consider issues such as categories of
response (values in the scale), size of the scale, the direction of the scale, the
ordinal nature of Likert-derived data, and appropriate statistical analysis of
such data.
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Rating Scale is defined as a closed-ended survey question used to

represent respondent feedback in a comparative form for specific particular
features/products/services. It is one of the most established question types for
online and offline surveys where survey respondents are expected to rate an
attribute or feature. A rating scale is a variant of the popular multiple-choice
question which is widely used to gather the information that provides relative
information about a specific topic.
Researchers use a rating scale in research when they intend to associate
a qualitative measure with the various aspects of a product or feature.
Generally, this scale is used to evaluate the performance of a product or
service, employee skills, customer service performances, processes followed for
a particular goal, etc. Rating scale survey question can be compared to a
checkbox question but rating scale provides more information than merely
Yes/No.
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The Multiple Choice Questions

Where do you get the news from?
Television Radio
Newspaper Magazine
Word-of-mouth Internet
Other: Please Specify _______________ “For this type of question it is important
to consider including an "other" category because there may be other avenues
by which the person first heard about your site that you might have
overlooked” (Question Pro Survey Software, 2017).
The Staple Scale The staple scale asks a person to rate a brand, product, or
service according to a certain characteristic on a scale from +5 to -5,
indicating how well the characteristic describes the product or service. The
following is an example of a staple scale question:
When thinking about Data Mining Technologies, Inc. (DMT), do you believe that
the word "innovative" aptly describes or poorly describes the company? On a
scale of +5 to -5 with +5 being "a very good description of DMT" and -5 being
"poor description of DMT," how do you rank DMT according to the word
"innovative"?
(+5) Describes very well
(+4)
(+3)
(+2)
(+1)
Innovative
(-1)
(-2)
(-3)
(-4)
(-5) Poorly describes

Checklist A checklist is also known as a tick list or chart works as an

inventory of behaviors or skills where the researcher checks indicators that are
being observed (Hodder Education & Hachette UK Company, 2017). A checklist
can be a quantitative or qualitative tool. If you look for specific criteria with a
yes/no answer it becomes a quantitative tool. On the other hand, if you look
for specific criteria or indicators and you want to deeply or briefly describe what
you observe, it becomes a qualitative tool. A checklist is a list of aspects to
observe as content, abilities, and behavior. It is a mechanism to verify if certain
indicators or symptoms are present in a phenomenon. A checklist provides
more information if the researcher records additional comments on the context
(Hodder Education & Hachette UK Company,
2017)
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 What’s More

Activity 1: Do it Right!
Read carefully and analyze the table. Below, in the first column, enumerated
are the types of validity/reliability and on the second column, it indicates what
does it assess. On the last column identify the given examples below as to the
type of validity/reliability. Write only the letter of the answer.
A- There is no objective, observable entity called “depression” that we can
measure directly. But based on existing psychological research and theory, we
can measure depression based on a collection of symptoms and indicators,
such as low selfconfidence and low energy levels.
B- You create a survey to measure the regularity of people’s dietary habits.
You review the survey items, which ask questions about every meal of the day
and snacks eaten in between for every day of the week. On its surface, the
survey seems like a good representation of what you want to test.
C- A mathematics teacher develops an end-of-semester algebra test for her
class. The test should cover every form of algebra that was taught in the class.
If some types of algebra are left out, then the results may not be an accurate
indication of students’ understanding of the subject. Similarly, if she includes
questions that are not related to algebra, the results are no longer a valid
measure of algebra knowledge.
D - A university professor creates a new test to measure applicants’ English
writing ability. To assess how well the test does measure students’ writing
ability, she finds an existing test that is considered a valid measurement of
English writing ability and compares the results when the same group of
students takes both tests.
E- A group of participants complete a questionnaire designed to measure
personality traits. If they repeat the questionnaire days, weeks, or months apart
and give the same answers, this indicates high test-retest reliability.
F- You design a questionnaire to measure self-esteem. If you randomly split
the results into two halves, there should be a strong correlation between the two
sets of results. If the two results are very different, this indicates low internal
consistency.
Types of Validity What does it assess? Example
1. Face validity It considers how suitable the
content of a test seems to be
on the surface.
2. Content It assesses whether a test is
Validity representative of all aspects of
the construct.
 3. Construct It refers to a concept or
characteristic that can’t be
directly observed but can be
measured by observing other
indicators that are associated
with it.
4. Criterion It evaluates how closely the
results of your test correspond
to the results of a different
test.
Methods in Reliability What does it assess? Example
5. Test-retest The consistency of a measure
across time: do you get the
same results when you repeat
the measurement?
6. Internal The consistency of the
consistency measurement itself: do you get
the same results from different
parts of a test that are
designed to measure the same
thing?

Activity 2 Think well!

For other criteria in assessing validity and reliability, the following are used in
assessing. Think for the appropriate criteria define or describe below. Choose
from the words given and write your answer on the space before the number.
You may use your reference in exploring the activity.
Reactivity Sensitivity Specificity
Speed
Comprehensibility Precision Range
Linearity
__________________1. It is a measure of the variation among survey estimates,
over repeated application of the same sampling procedures.
__________________2. It is known as the recall rate, is a measurement that
determines the probability of actual positives.
__________________3. The focus of this measurement is to find out the sample
members who are negative towards the tested property
specificity
_________________4. It refers to whether or not inner and outer stimuli make
sense to us in terms of being coherent, ordered, cohesive,
structured, and clear.
_________________5. In these criteria the researcher doesn’t rush measuring
process to obtain the most reliable measurement.

_________________6. The range is the size of the smallest interval (statistics)

which contains all the data and provides an indication of
statistical dispersion.
_________________7. It is an indicator of the consistency of measurements over
the entire range of measurements.
_________________8. It is a phenomenon that occurs when individuals alter their
performance or behavior due to the awareness that they are
being observed. The change may be positive or negative and
depends on the situation.

Activity 3. Time to write!

• Your first task is to produce a write- up of your research

instrument.
• Then, you are about to draft the research instrument based
on your research study.
• Remember to integrate all the things highlighted in this
lesson to help you in your writing.
• The steps listed below are the elements in your research
instrument that can help you or guide you in accomplishing
your write up.

Step 1 Identify what you want to cover in a research questionnaire:

Step 2 Keep words simple and straightforward:
Step 3 Ask only one question at a time:
Step 4 Be flexible with your options:
Step 5 The open-ended or closed-ended question, it’s a tough choice:
Step 6 It is important to know your audience:
Step 7 7. Choosing the right tool is important
emgo.nl/kc . “Development measurement instruments”. Accessed June 19,2020.
https://www.emgo.nl/kc/developing-measurement-instruments-questionnaires

• Below is an example of a research instrument. You may use

this as a guide in crafting your research instrument.
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