Range of questionnaires now in use

The questionnaires have evolved from the original 16-page version in 1985 to a slicker 1, 2 or 3 page version now.

We normally use a paper questionnaire to collect the data because

  1. not all building users have computers,
  2. response rates are much higher.

The questionnaire is usually handed out in the morning and collected in the afternoon of the same day. We find that this gives approach us high response rates and minimises impacts on the occupants and managers. We page-set the questionnaires using InDesign software, outputting files in pdf format.

The range now covers:

  1. BUS 1-page questionnaire (with optional journey to work page added).
  2. BUS/Probe 2-page questionnaire (with optional journey to work page added). This evolved originally from the 1985 BUS Office Environment Survey questionnaire . The BRE/ Royal Society of Health questionnaire is also derived in part from this.
  3. BUS/Workplace questionnaire (as 2. but with an emphasis on work and the workplace.) This was introduced in 1997 to give more emphasis to work requirements . Questions on e.g. control, quickness of response and response time were omitted from 2. and replaced with more details on respondents' work and how it is affected by the building.
  4. BUS 3-page version. Combines all questions in 2 and 3, plus journey-to-work with further facilities management questions added. We ensure that a core set of a minimum of 10 questions is always used so that benchmark comparability is maintained.
  5. Library version (staff).
  6. Library version (users)
  7. School version (staff)
  8. School version (pupils)
  9. Museum version (office staff)
  10. Museum version (technical staff)
  11. Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Swedish, French, Norwegian and Japanese translations of 3 (and Swedish version of 2).
  12. Tropical climate and monsoon versions of 3.
  13. Domestic / residential version for assessment of houses.
  14. Internet version of 1. We deliberately keep the internet version short. There is also an internet version of 3.

All the questionnaires have a common set of ten rating scales which are used for benchmarking. We normally insist that these are retained, otherwise the benchmarking and rating system will not work properly.

Outside the basic set of questions, you can add or subtract questions, but we ask you not to change any. This is because minor changes magnify the difficulties of managing data files, especially when they are compared.