There are many ways of writing great questions. There are also many ways of writing questions that could be improved.
Generally, here are some tips:
1) Keep a question short, to-the-point, and properly written.
- For example, this is well written: “On average, how far does a woman in rural areas of Africa have to walk everyday to get clean drinking water?”
- This is almost the same, but incorrectly written: “How far does the average woman in Africa have to walk to get clean drinking water everyday?”
2) When possible, phrase questions as questions, instead of statements with a fill-in-the-blank ___________.
- For example, this is well written: “What is the population of the United States?”
- But this is not: “_______ is the population of the United States.”
3) Make sure to add the sign, amount, or quantity figure in the answer options.
- For example, these are well written answers: “20%” or “20 gallons” or “$20″ or “20 million trees” or “20 species”
- But these are not: “20″ (must include detail to remind user the fact!)
4) The best questions are those that include a cause and effect relationship with the user such that they are being educated how their actions directly or indirectly affect social and environmental issues in a positive way.
- For example, this is the best kind of question: “How much money will a family of 4 save by turning off their electricity and lights an additional 3 hours a day?”
- Another great question: “If you give $50 to a female entrepreneur on KIVA (kiva.org), which of the following businesses can you help start?” (then include kiva website in the source tab)
- Another great question: “If you purchase bottled water, which of the following industries are you contributing to and supporting?”
- etc.
5) Questions are better when the answers can be included with a comparison to a tangible equivalent in the user’s mind.
- For example, this is a great question: “Forested areas totaling about 200 square kilometers, or an area twice the size of which of the following, are cut down every day?” The answers here could be: Paris (correct), Central Park in New York, Ohio, or China. This is more interesting than “Forested areas totaling how many square kilometers are cut down every day?” (answer 200 square kilometers.
- Another example, “9 children die each year from a lack of medicine that costs less than which of the following for someone in the United States?” The answer is a “cup of coffee”
6) Statistics are great, but make sure to offer answers that are not too close together.
- For example, if the question is asked, “What percent of the world population does the United States represent?” potential answers should include the % sign and be spaced out: “5%, 15%, 30%, 90%”
- Answers should NOT be “4.8%” “5.3%” “6.1%” and “3.8%”
- Especially for statistics, there is a lot of variation in difficulty that the question writer can add simply by how close together the answers are. Be aware of this.
7) Do not focus overly specific details to very small regions of the world. This is ok in moderation, but don’t go overboard writing 100 questions giving every fact and figure from a small village in Kenya that the average user may have never heard of.
- For example, “Villagers in Northern Kenya are using which of the following vaccine types for Tb protection?” is not a bad question, but if combined with “Villagers in Northern Kenya are using which of the following vaccine types for Malaria protection.” etc etc. answers will be too esoteric and geographically specific.
- A better question will fit Kenya’s statistics into a regional comparison with sub-Saharan Africa.
