Hi Sundar, I'm really not an expert of the topic. I don't understand how a questionnaire would be semi-structured, but if it is the same principle of structured and semi-structured interviews I can say that online questionnaires is a sort of structured questions.

For interviews, when you have a structured interview you may use "closed" questions with no freedom to expand the topic but in a semi-structured one you have this freedom to explore the findings until saturation of the theme.

I hope this can help a little bit.

Cheers

Sundar,

A structured questionnaire is one in which the questions and answers are set, semi-structured the respondent has the ability to add new questions. see the work of Charlotte Patterson regarding the development of the MYMOP questionnaire. I would think that for an online questionnaire using a semi-structured format would make it very difficult. this type of questionnaire needs more direct monitoring from the researchers, as respondents tend not to be consistent, especially if you are doing pre and post questionnaires.

For me, the difference lies in the nature of the coding of the answers provided. As you  know, in a structured questionnaire, the interviewer will have codes in which to classify all answers. In order to construct an effective questionnaire, you will need to know the range of what nearly all respondents will give as answers so that answers can be accurately coded. In semi-structured questionnaires, there is room for writing down some answers as given, and they can be coded later on. The semi-structure refers to the coding of the answers, and not to the questions posed.

Thanks for a great question. I am currently conducting a study utilizing the qualitative research paradigm. For online survey questionnaire, structured interviews are more applicable. If you search Qualitative Research Guidelines Project developed by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, you should be able to identify helpful resources related to differences between / among different types of interviews.

I agree, in linguistics a semi-structured permit freedom of responses while also revise and go in-depth in some of the most interesting topics of the reasearch.

Thanks for all your inputs. It sure has improved my understanding to a great extent.

Semi-structured questionnaire: to generate qualitative and quantitative information at household level household survey was undertaken by developing semi-structured questionnaire because it is easy to distribute collect the data in specific time. So as to gather primary information from households, semi-structured questionnaire was administered to selected sample households. The questions were formulated in both open ended and close ended forms and administered through face to face contact with rural household heads.

Semi-structured questionnaire: is a form of guided interviewing where only some or few of the questions are predetermined i.e. it does not use a formal questionnaire, but at most a checklist of questions.

Structured questionnaire: (Formal survey) – the questions are predetermined and well organized.

Dear Sundar,

Structured questionnaire is a closed ended type of questioner where the respondents could only choose the answer from the given alternatives given by the interviewer while semi- structure questionnaire allows the interviewee to add his/her opinion on some interesting questions (there are open ended questions in semi-structured questionnaire where the interviewees explain his/her idea on some issues).

Structured questionnaire

· A structured questionnaire is a type of interview in which the interviewer asks a particular set of predefined questions.

· Questions are planned and created in advance, which means that all respondents are asked the same questions in the same order.

• Consist of closed or prompted questions with predefined answers.
• The researcher has to anticipate all possible answers with pre-coded responses.
• They are used in large interview programmes (anything over 30 interviews and more likely over 200 interviews in number) and may be carried out face-to-face, self-completion and over the tel-phone, or depending on the respondent type, the content of questionnaire and the budget.

Advantages

· Can be conducted efficiently by interviewers trained only to follow the instructions on the interview guide or questionnaire.

· Do not require the development of rapport between interviewer and interviewee, and they can produce consistent data that can be compared across a number of respondents.

Semi-structured questionnaire

· A semi-structured questionnaire is a type of interview in which the interviewer asks only a few predefined questions while the rest of the questions are not planned in advance.

· In semi-structured interviews, some questions are predetermined asked all sample respondents, while others arise spontaneously in a free-flowing conversation.

• Comprise a mixture of closed and open-ended questions.
• They are commonly used where there is a need to accommodate a large range of different responses from respondents.
• The use of semi-structured questionnaires enables a mix of qualitative and quantitative information to be gathered.
• They can be administered over the telephone or face-to-face.

In both types of the questionnaire, there are two major issues that can have a bad effect on both the quality of your data, and a respondent’s attitude towards your research.

· These are using excessively long questionnaires, and repetitive questioning techniques.

· Variety is the spice of questionnaires, as well as of life!

· Use lots of different question types to stop respondents getting bored.

· Stimulus materials, such as show cards and advertisements, can also help provide texture in the interview.

Advantages

· Questions can be prepared ahead of time. This allows the interviewer to be prepared and appear competent during the interview.

· Allow informants the freedom to express their views in their own terms.

· Can provide reliable, comparable qualitative data.

Semi structure have both open and closed ended interviews.

Semi-structured questionnaires enable the respondent to provide feedback on some fascinating questions (there are open ended questions in semi-structured questionnaires where the interviewees explain his or her idea on some issues). Structured questionnaires are a sort of closed-ended questioner in which respondents can only pick an answer from the possibilities provided by the interviewer.

Essentially, a structured questionnaire asks all respondents predetermined questions in a standard format; the rationale is that the collected answers will therefore be comparable towards understanding a studied situation (this might not be exactly so because of several factors such as respondents' differing understandings of the same question, but generally, one could collect a reliable enough data set).

Semi-structured questionnaires ask a combination of predetermined (or closed) questions AND questions not necessarily in standardised format which essentially prompt respondents to answer in their own way; rationale of semi-structured questionnaires is the return of a more comprehensive data set in terms of enabling the researcher to understand the studied scenario.

A structured questionnaire is a type of conversation (either in person, on phone, by internet) set for research purpose. It is prepared in the order of the problems need to be solved. Where as, the semi-structured interview is a type of interview asked without keeping the order of questions, and the questioning is to be continued as far as the frogotten ideas are remembered through time...