Designing a Questionnaire for Polynesian and Pakeha Car Assembly Workers

The development of a questionnaire for use in a manufacturing plant with four major cultural groups-New Zealanders of European origin, Maoris, Samoans, and Cook Islanders-is described. The problems encountered lead to practical suggestions about the nature of the questions asked, their response format, translation-retranslation problems, and administration of the questionnaire. The experience described shows that great care is needed when doing questionnaire work in the applied multicultural environment.