QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN, RETURN RATES, AND RESPONSE FAVORABLENESS IN AN EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE

Topic order and location of demographic items were systematically varied in an employee attitude survey distributed to 1,188 office personnel of a single organization. With six questionnaire topic areas arranged in the order that matched employee representatives' perceptions of employee priorities, returns were higher (96%) than with any of five random orders (average 78%). Returns were higher with demographic items placed at the end (85%) than at the beginning (77%). Global attitudes and three of six topic attitudes varied with topic order and were more positive with the prioritized topic order than with the five random orders. The largest order effect was noted in employees' attitudes toward pay (p < .001), which was the most important topic. Methodological and practical implications are discussed.