3. Basic information should be obtained first, followed by classification, and, finally, identification information.

4. Difficult, sensitive, or complex questions should be placed late in the sequence

5. General questions should precede the specific questions. (Funnel approach)

6. Questions should be asked in a logical order.

7. Branching questions should be designed carefully to cover all possible contingencies.

8. The question being branched should be placed as close as possible to the question causing the branching, and (2) the branching questions should be ordered so that the respondents cannot anticipate what additional information will be required.

Step 8 Form and Layout

1. Divide a questionnaire into several parts.

2. Questions in each part should be numbered.

3. The questionnaire should be pre-coded.

4. The questionnaires themselves should be numbered serially.

Step 9 Reproduction of the Questionnaire

1. The questionnaire should have a professional appearance.

2. Booklet format should be used for long questionnaires.

3. Each question should be reproduced on a single page (or double-page spread).

4. Vertical response columns should be used.

5. Grids are useful when there are a number of related questions which use the same set of response categories.

6. The tendency to crowd questions to make the questionnaire look shorter should be avoided.

7. Directions or instructions for individual questions should be placed as close to the questions as possible.

Step 10 Pre-testing

1. Pre-testing should be done always.

2. All aspects of the questionnaire should be tested, including question content, wording, sequence, form and layout, question difficulty, and instructions.

3. The respondents in the pretest should be similar to those who will be included in the actual survey.

4. Begin the pretest by using personal interviews.

5. Pretest should also be conducted by mail or telephone if those methods are to be used in the actual survey.

6. A variety of interviewers should be used for pretests.

7. The pretest sample size is small, varying from 15 to 30 respondents for the initial testing.

8. Use protocol analysis and debriefing to identify problems.

9. After each significant revision of the questionnaire, another pretest should be conducted, using a different sample of respondents.