A well designed questionnaire is essential to a successful survey. However, the researcher must develop his/her own intuition with respect to what constitutes 'good design' since there is no theory of questionnaires to guide him/her.
A good questionnaire is one which help directly achieve the research objectives, provides complete and accurate information; is easy for both interviewers and respondents to complete, is so designed as to make sound analysis and interpretation possible and is brief.
There are at least nine distinct steps: decide on the information required; define the target respondents, select the method(s) of reaching the respondents; determine question content; word the questions; sequence the questions; check questionnaire length; pre-test the questionnaire and develop the final questionnaire.