A Novel Multiple-Option Web-based Questionnaire System with IPA and IPA Discrimination Index

Abstract

In this paper, a novel web-based multiple-option questionnaire by using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) web development technology is designed to allow respondents to choose one or two of five options, resulting in the effect of nine-point scale. In comparison with the conventional paperbased questionnaires, the advantages of this web-based questionnaire are described as follows: 1. The enhancement of IPA reliability; 2. The researchers can timely obtain the basic statistic analysis results; 3. To save paper; 4. To reduce the number of items in a questionnaire with higher range scale; 5. To provide friendly web-based user interface; 6. To enhance the questionnaire’s face validity, in which Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) model discrimination index can reflect more accurate quantity comparing to the IPA model proposed by Hollenhorst. Further the index can be implemented to compare and distinguish the effects of different types of research events. This research sampled the questionnaires carried out in 2009 Taichung City Teacher Seminar referenced to review and identify the effects of teachers training program and the usage of the budget. When adopting the IPA model with our novel IPA discrimination index, compared our proposed web-based multiple-option questionnaire with traditional single-option questionnaires, it demonstrated that our scheme has better performance obviously. Furthermore, to use our novel IPA discrimination index can indentify and clearly find the ways to improve the quality and figure out a proper way for budget allocation.