# Pareto Principle Checklist for Question Design  
  
### Problems to watch out for before testing the questionnaire.  
  
1. PROBLEMS WITH READING: Determine whether it is difficult for the interviewers to read the question uniformly to all respondents.  
1a – WHAT TO READ: Interviewers may have difficulty determining what parts of the question are to be read.  
1b – MISSING INFORMATION: Information the interviewer needs to administer the question is not contained in the question.  
1c – HOW TO READ: Question is not fully scripted and therefore difficult to read.  
  
2. PROBLEMS WITH INSTRUCTIONS: Look for problems with any introductions, instructions, or explanations from the respondent’s point of view.  
2a – CONFLICTING OR INACCURATE INSTRUCTIONS, introductions, or explanations.  
2b – COMPLICATED INSTRUCTIONS, introductions, or explanations.  
  
3. PROBLEMS WITH ITEM CLARITY: Identify problems related to communicating the intent or meaning of the question to the respondent.  
3a – WORDING: The question is lengthy, awkward, ungrammatical, or contains complicated syntax.  
3b – TECHNICAL TERMS are undefined, unclear, or complex.  
3c – VAGUE: The question is vague because there are multiple ways in which to interpret it or to determine what is to be included and excluded.  
3d – REFERENCE PERIODS are missing, not well specified, or are in conflict.  
  
4. PROBLEMS WITH ASSUMPTIONS: Determine whether there are problems with assumptions made or the underlying logic.  
4a – INAPPROPRIATE ASSUMPTIONS are made about the respondent or his/her living situation.  
4b – ASSUMES CONSTANT behavior: The question inappropriately assumes a constant pattern of behavior or experience for situations that in fact vary.  
4c – DOUBLE-BARRELED question that contains multiple implicit questions.  
  
5. PROBLEMS WITH KNOWLEDGE/MEMORY: Check whether respondents are likely to not know  
or have trouble remembering information.  
5a – KNOWLEDGE: The respondent is unlikely to know the answer.  
5b – An ATTITUDE that is asked about may not exist.  
5c – RECALL failure.  
5d – COMPUTATION or calculation problem.  
  
6. PROBLEMS WITH SENSITIVITY/BIAS: Assess questions for sensitive nature or wording, and for bias.  
6a – SENSITIVE CONTENT: The question is on a topic that people will generally be uncomfortable talking about.  
6b – A SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE response is implied.  
  
7. PROBLEMS WITH RESPONSE CATEGORIES: Assess the adequacy of the range of responses to be recorded.  
7a – OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS that are inappropriate or difficult.  
7b – MISMATCH between question and answer categories.  
7c – TECHNICAL TERMS are undefined, unclear, or complex  
7d – VAGUE response categories.  
7e – OVERLAPPING response categories.  
7f – MISSING response categories.  
7g – ILLOGICAL ORDER of response categories.  
  
### Things to pay attention to when testing the questionnaire.  
- Which items require respondents to think hard before they answer?    
- What cognitive processes do they adopt to answer difficult questions?    
- Which items seem to produce irritation, embarrassment, or confusion?    
- Are there any items that respondents consider comical?    
- Does the style of the question generate bias?    
- Are the answers we get what we really want for the purpose of the study?    
- Is there enough variability in the answers received?    
- Are there local expressions that should be incorporated into the items to avoid ambiguity?    
- Is the questionnaire too long?    
- In the eye of the respondent, have any other important issues been overlooked in the questionnaire?