A market research questionnaire is a list of questions presented orally or in writing to collect data necessary for a research project.

For example, a questionnaire can be administered as a face-to-face interview, telephone interview, or as a self-completion questionnaire.

Researchers are increasingly using online surveys that cost less and eliminate data entry errors compared to mailed/postal questionnaires.

Generally, questionnaires contain closed-ended and open-ended questions addressed to members of the target population.

Businesses use questionnaires for various purposes, such as collecting data from a target audience, improving customer service, and making well-informed decisions. For example, an automotive company may use a customer feedback survey to gain key insights into customer needs and preferences.

Why do we need a market research questionnaire? What are the types of questions used in market research? What are the pros and cons of a market research questionnaire?

Keep reading this post to find answers to these questions and much more.

A Market Research Questionnaire Explained

A market research questionnaire is a market research technique that aims to gain a quantitative assessment to complement the qualitative view offered by other methods, such as focus groups or individual interviews.

Interviews, questionnaires, and surveys are common data-gathering tools in primary research, but secondary research involves data collection from sources like libraries and peer-reviewed journals.

A well-laid-out questionnaire has a sensible sequence of questions—organized attractively and logically, with easy questions preceding the difficult ones (e.g., sensitive questions).

A clear and easy-to-ready questionnaire has a significant effect on the response rate.

Importance of a Questionnaire Design in Market Research

A questionnaire helps gather large amounts of information (primary data) from sizeable sample volumes. Without a questionnaire, it would be difficult to identify potential threats and opportunities and learn more about the customer base or the target audience.

As a popular research method, it is especially effective in measuring a research participant’s attitudes, behaviors, intentions, preferences, and opinions and understanding a consumer’s passivity or neutrality.

For instance, the Likert (named after the American organizational and social psychologist “Rensis Likert”) scale is a psychometric scale commonly used in social and educational research.

A Likert scale questionnaire considers the linear strength/intensity of an attitude on a continuum—with the choices ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” on a five-point or seven-point scale.

Here are the major benefits of using a market research questionnaire (listed alphabetically):

• Check your position against your competitors
• Create authentic and fresh content
• Gain insights into an existing or a future product
• Identify customer demographics
• Measure brand awareness
• Prioritize ad spend and resources
• Reach a specific audience
• Segment, research, and analyze your target market
• Test branding, naming, and positioning
• Understand consumer sentiment

Components of a Good Questionnaire Design

Here are some of the best practices for designing market research questionnaires:

• Select the interview method
• Determine question composition
• Determine individual question content
• Develop question order, form, and layout
• Pilot test the questionnaire

A lengthy questionnaire may cause respondent fatigue and result in inferior-quality responses and a low response rate, which impact the reliability of the research.

Therefore, it is recommended to adhere to short and simple questionnaires for optimum results.

Furthermore, a carefully worded questionnaire with clear instructions minimizes the potential for response bias. It is also a best practice to pilot the questionnaire and identify any ambiguities or address potential biases before its full-scale implementation.

Leading Questions in Market Research

If you are looking for a question type for your questionnaire, here is a sample list of questions:

Market Research Questions Based on Information

Factual questions: Factual questions seek factual information, such as asking a respondent about whether he/she has a passport or a driver’s license.

Opinion questions: Opinion questions are meant to learn more about a respondent’s opinion toward an offering, such as a beverage product.

Behavioral questions: Behavioral questions seek information about a respondent’s actions or activities, such as taking an overseas trip.

Hypothetical questions: Hypothetical questions focus on a respondent’s answers to hypothetical situations.  

Demographic questions: Demographic questions are used for creating respondent segments based on a respondent’s personal information, including age, gender, postal code/zip code, and profession.

Knowledge questions: Knowledge questions are used to assess a respondent’s knowledge of specific issues.

Market Research Questions Based on Response

Open-ended Market Research Questions

Open-ended questions (also known as “unstructured questions”) need in-depth answers and allow participants to answer in their own words and provide personal opinions.

Here is an example of an open-ended question:

“Why did you choose to live in this city?” (Needs specific details to answer the question)

Closed-ended Market Research Questions

Also known as “structured questions,” closed-ended questions in a questionnaire are simple and require only a short phrase or word as an answer without elaboration. Closed questions are also part of questionnaires created for large numbers of interviews.

Here is an example of a closed-ended question:

“What is your age?” (Needs a word as an answer)

The Net Promoter Score® (NPS) question is a highly popular closed-ended question that asks customers how likely they are to recommend a product or service to others on a scale of 0-10.

Other types of response-based questions include:

Single-response questions

Multiple-response questions

Grid questions

• One response per row
• Multiple responses per row
• Numeric responses

Date questions

Ranking questions

Constant-sum questions

Market Research Questions Based on Objective

Examples of common market research questions (listed alphabetically):

• How likely are you to recommend us to your family and friends?

• How old are you?

• How would you rate your experience with us?

• What is the maximum you would pay for an ‘X’ product?

• Where do you live?

Examples of new product survey questions (listed alphabetically):

• How can we improve the product?

• How frequently do you use the product?

• Is the product simple to use?

• Please rank the product features from the most to least important.

• What do you like the most about the product?

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Advantages and Disadvantages of a Market Research Questionnaire

Let’s look at the major pros and cons of a market research questionnaire:

Advantages of a Market Research Questionnaire (listed alphabetically)

Accessibility: A questionnaire’s accessibility enables individuals with different abilities, language proficiencies, or technological access to participate, thereby enhancing the inclusiveness and validity of the research.

Alternative text for images, closed-captioning for videos, and screen reader compatibility are some accessibility features of questionnaires, which ensure that individuals with motor disabilities or visual impairments can access and complete the questionnaires comfortably and independently.

Furthermore, questionnaires can be translated into multiple languages to engage a broader audience, ensure comprehension and inclusivity, and gather more accurate data.

Anonymity: The online questionnaire ensures the anonymity of the respondents. The fear of unknown repercussions for sharing negative opinions or views keeps most respondents away from answering truthfully—respecting privacy provides better data because it makes respondents feel free and comfortable in answering the questionnaire.

Cost-efficiency and speed: While sending online questionnaires or placing them on websites yields cost savings, survey software helps in the quick and efficient collection of survey research results. In addition, questionnaires with built-in tools to automate analyses save time and effort in result interpretation.

Ease of replication: Questionnaires designed with clear instructions, well-defined procedures, and standardized measures enable researchers to replicate the study with minimal effort and resources. Replication studies help assess the consistency of the original results by challenging or confirming previous findings, thereby enhancing the reliability and scientific rigor of the research.

For example, a customer satisfaction survey questionnaire using a specific methodology and a validated scale can be replicated by researchers to identify potential contextual differences or validate the original findings.

Follow-up opportunities: When you follow up with your customers after completing a questionnaire, you gain an opportunity to keep them engaged and retain their attention. The follow-up effort also establishes an action plan to address key issues and share survey-specific initiatives with your customers.

Scalability and standardization: The high scalability of questionnaires allows researchers to distribute them to demographics anywhere across the world. On the other hand, standardization makes it easy to include as many questions as needed on any topic.

Simultaneous qualitative and quantitative data collection: Combining qualitative and quantitative data provides a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of information and a more holistic view of the research topic.

Structured questionnaires with predefined response options provide quantitative data that can be analyzed statistically to draw objective conclusions, make comparisons, and measure trends.

Open-ended questions or free-text responses provide qualitative data that offers rich and in-depth insights into individual motivations, perspectives, and subjective experiences that quantitative measures cannot capture alone.

This mixed-method approach allows for data triangulation wherein research findings are compared and corroborated to enhance the reliability and validity of the research—ultimately leading to actionable insights and informed decision-making.

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Disadvantages of a Market Research Questionnaire (listed alphabetically)

Differences in interpretation and understanding: If the respondents do not understand questions fully or interpret them differently, it may lead to skewed results. Currently, several questionnaire and market research survey templates are available online to shape questions for different audiences.

Lack of opportunity for clarification: Unlike focus groups or interviews where researchers can ask follow-up questions in real time, questionnaires may lead to inaccurate or incomplete responses or potential misunderstandings due to the inability to probe for immediate clarification.

Researchers need to address knowledge gaps related to misinterpretations and ensure that respondents grasp the context fully in the case of ambiguous or unclear questions. This helps avoid responses that do not align with the researchers’ intended meanings or question objectives.

Limited depth of information: As questionnaires generally rely on predefined and structured response options, it can restrict a respondent’s ability to provide in-depth responses and result in a loss of context-specific information.

For example, a survey questionnaire providing overall ratings and rankings may not help researchers make informed decisions based on just questionnaire data that does not factor in the reasons behind customer satisfaction levels.

Low response rates: When many individuals invited to participate in a questionnaire do not complete the survey or choose not to respond, it can result in low response rates that lead to biased results and impact the overall quality of the study.

Low response rates also limit the generalizability of the findings due to a lack of representativeness in the sample. Ensuring the purpose and importance of the survey or questionnaire via clear and concise communication with potential participants and providing incentives like an entry into a prize draw are some strategies to address low response rates.

Response bias: Systematic errors in participants’ interpretations of and responses to questionnaire items may lead to biased results. Social desirability bias is a well-known response bias that relates to desirable or socially acceptable responses participants are compelled to provide without involving their true behaviors or thoughts.

Response or survey fatigue: Lengthy, overly complex, or repetitive questionnaires may result in response or survey fatigue—overwhelming participants and compromising collected data’s reliability and validity.

Respondents may lose interest and motivation when faced with densely packed questions or repetitive items and may rush through the remaining questions—providing arbitrary or random responses or abandoning the questionnaire, which negatively affects the data quality.

Therefore, it is essential to design the questionnaire carefully and pilot test it to ensure clarity, conciseness, and unambiguity in questions. In addition, detailed instructions before specific questions or sections enhance respondents’ understanding. Furthermore, visual aids can help clarify complex concepts and minimize potential confusion while answering the questionnaire.

Sampling limitations: Questionnaires commonly rely on a specific sample of participants. Consequently, if this sample does not truly represent the target population or accurately reflect the larger group’s opinions or characteristics, it can result in a biased sample—leading to inaccurate or skewed results.

Market Research Questions [A Sample Questionnaire]

A Market Research Questionnaire on Heat Meters

Here is a sample market research questionnaire on heat meters:

Section 1: Market Overview

Q. What do you think are the major factors driving the heat meters market?

Q. According to you, what are the major opportunities in the heat meters market over the next five years?

Q. Who do you think are the major companies in the heat meters industry? Can you provide a ranking to give an idea of their competitive positions?

Q. What is the average cost range of heat meters currently in the market?

Q. As per our preliminary estimations, the global heat meters market revenue was around USD X.XX billion in 2022. Do you feel that our estimation is correct?

Section 2: Market Challenges and Opportunities

Q. What do you see as the key challenges faced by companies operating in the heat meters market?

Q. How would you prioritize the following challenges: technological advancements, regulatory changes, pricing pressures, and market saturation?

Q. From your perspective, what strategies should market players adopt to overcome these challenges?

Q. Apart from revenue growth, what other opportunities do you believe exist for companies in the heat meters market?

Q. Do you think there's potential for innovative business models, such as subscription-based heat meter services?

Section 3: Impact of External Factors

Q. According to you, how has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the heat meters market? Have you observed any changes in demand or supply patterns?

Q. How do you think the recent Russia and Ukraine crisis has influenced the heat meters market, especially in terms of supply chain disruptions and market demand shifts?

Q. Are there any other geopolitical or environmental factors that you believe could significantly affect the heat meters market in the near future?

Section 4: Emerging Trends and Developments

Q. What are the important trends and developments happening in the heat meters market? For instance, are there any advancements in smart meter technology or data analytics that you find noteworthy?

Q. How do you think the shift towards sustainable and energy-efficient solutions is impacting the adoption of heat meters?

Q. Are there any emerging markets or regions that you believe will play a crucial role in the growth of the heat meters industry?

Section 5: Customer Insights

Q. What factors do you think drive customer decisions when selecting heat meter suppliers? Is it primarily cost, technology, reputation, or something else?

Q. Do you see any changes in customer preferences, such as a growing demand for remote monitoring and energy management solutions?

Q. Are there any unmet needs or pain points that customers commonly face when it comes to heat meters and their usage?

Section 6: Future Outlook

Q. In your opinion, what will be the defining factors that shape the heat meters market landscape in the next decade?

Q. How do you envision the competitive dynamics evolving among the major players in the heat meters industry?

Q. What are your predictions for the global heat meters market size and revenue by the year 2025?

Section 7: Additional Comments

Q. Is there any other information, insights, or perspectives you would like to share regarding the heat meters market that we haven’t covered in this questionnaire?

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Wrapping Up

In market research, questionnaires, surveys, and forms are commonly used as methods of data collection for qualitative research and quantitative research.

While a questionnaire includes a set of questions (content), a survey is a broader term that encompasses content, method, and analysis of the responses based on the questionnaire.

A survey, such as a customer survey or market survey, is a standard method of gathering information from customers or employees and obtaining public opinion through survey forms and questionnaires.

A brand awareness survey is designed to measure how aware your customers are of your brand. On the other hand, a market segmentation survey includes demographic segmentation questions to acquire insights into potential customers.

Additionally, a concept testing survey helps in evaluating product development or a marketing campaign by getting feedback from specific customer segments making up the target market.

Connecting your survey, such as a consumer research survey, to a digital marketing tool like Google Analytics helps you track survey performance and measure outcomes easily.

Furthermore, a form is used to collect specific data, but a survey is more suited for collecting comprehensive, detailed, and subjective data. Compared to a longer and insight-oriented survey, a form is a shorter and information-oriented method primarily used for quantitative data collection.

Here are some examples of forms:

• Application forms
• Contact forms
• Evaluation forms
• Feedback forms
• Inspection forms
• Registration forms
• Report forms

A market research questionnaire is a powerful primary market research tool that helps individuals, businesses, and organizations gain meaningful insights and make well-informed decisions.