Questions in Written Consultation Documents

Asking the right questions will:

• Make it easier for stakeholders to reply to the consultation;
• Collect evidence to test assumptions behind the policy proposals;
• Help ensure you unearth anything you had not anticipated;
• Persuade stakeholders that the consultation is genuine and that you value their views and experience;
• Increase the likelihood of quality and quantity of responses; and
• Make the task of analysing the responses easier

Do not start drafting questions until after you have written the document. From the outset keep a note of any issue which is unclear or uncertain and for which further evidence and opinion is needed.

Below is information about different types of questions and then some hints about How to use Questions in your Consultation Document

Different Types of Question

The type of questions you ask depends on what stage of policy development you are consulting on.

Open questions

• provide qualitative responses – ideas, opinions and comments
• provide range and depth
• respondents can qualify their answers
• not easy to quantify numerically, unless a coding frame has been drawn up
• answers can be misinterpreted
• answers may not be analysed impartially

Closed questions

• provide specific data
• easy to complete, especially for people with little time to spare, such as people running a small business or people with low literacy skills
• easy to analyse and report
• provides clear information on the level of support for a policy proposal
• because percentages of responses can be easily obtained, this should only be interpreted to give an indication of the weight of views and of course should not be interpreted as representing the level of support within the total population
• can draw misleading conclusions from a limited range of options
• do not capture qualifications to answers from eg “Yes, but…” or “It depends…”
• may discourage a stakeholder from giving information about any unanticipated implications. not covered in the consultation document

General questions

• convey that the government is open to receiving a wide range of views
• can mislead stakeholders about the extent to which policies can be influenced and so changed

Detailed questions

• convey the impression that Government really is interested in the views of stakeholders
• help provide feedback on the specific areas of uncertainty

How to use Questions in your Consultation Document

Best model for questions

• use a mix of open and closed questions
• use a mix of general and detailed questions
• keep the number of questions to a minimum
• allow adequate space for answers without leaving too much space
• avoid double-barrelled questions eg “do you understand and support the policy”
• ask how the department can ensure smooth implementation and enforcement of the policy options – do not leave matters of implementation until after decisions have been made about the policy
• if a Regulatory Impact Assessment is required ask respondents to comment on this
• ask respondents to comment on any possible unintended consequences
• include a final question asking for any other relevant comments

Consultation questionnaires

Instead of including questions in the consultation document, consider producing a separate questionnaire. Questionnaires:

• provide structure to a consultation exercise
• can draw together questions already contained within the document
• can include both open and closed questions
• should include paragraph references to the relevant section in the consultation document
• can be included with a document or separately
• can be more easily integrated with answers from online consultations
• are easier for stakeholders to respond
• increase the likelihood that all questions are answered
• are easier to analyse
• should never be compulsory; be clear that respondents can submit their comments in any format