Questionnaires AD700 College of Advancing Studies 20 October, 2004 Brendan Rapple
Dec 19, 2015
Questionnaires
AD700 College of Advancing Studies
20 October, 2004 Brendan Rapple
Use Questionnaires or Not?
• Perhaps “better” responses by phone -- but phone interviewing is very time-consuming.
• On other hand, people tend to be more truthful with anonymous questionnaires
• Generally cheaper than one-on-one interviews
• Perhaps a mix of questionnaire and interviewing?
Mailed Questionnaires
• Explain purpose of questionnaire very clearly and precisely.
• Explain any potential use the results will have for the respondents
themselves.
• Stress voluntary nature - respondents are doing a favor to the
researcher.
• Use letter-head -- official.
• Confidentiality is clearly promised.
• It has a clear, physically separate expression of thanks.
Whatever Format . . . . . .
• Important to specify a deadline for response.
• Follow-up letter (e-mail) often advisable
• Always essential for PILOT STUDY or PRE-TEST
Questions Should Be
– Woven together
– Flow smoothly
– Avoid confusion
A good questionnaire forms an integrated whole.
Different Understandings
• Everyone should see/understand the exact same
question – no ambiguity.
• But people from different backgrounds, with diverse
frames of reference, may have different perceptions of
the same question.
Avoid Ambiguity
• Do you favor governmental involvement in health care?
• “What is your income?” __________________ do you mean:
weeklymonthlyannualpretaxafter taxfrom salary or from all sources
Another Example:
(A blouse manufacturer wants to ascertain what type of sleeves teenage females prefer in their blouses)
1. Do you like short sleeve blouses?YES__ NO__
2. Do you like long sleeve blouses?YES__ NO__
3. Do you like sleeveless blouses?YES__ NO__
Another Example
• “Do you jog regularly?”
Problem, of course, lies with REGULARLY
•
Avoid jargon, slang, abbreviations
• Plumbers talk about “snakes”
• Psychologists about “oedipus complex”
• Lawyers about “mens rea”
“NATO” usually means North Atlantic Treaty Organization
But some respondents might take it to mean:
--National Auto Tourist Organization
--Native Alaskan Trade Orbit
--North African Tea Office
Types of Questions
• Open-Ended Questions:
– What is your age?
– What is the total turnover in your company?
– Which of the four seasons do you prefer?
– How would you spend a a $1,000,000 lottery win?
Disadvantages of Open-ended Questions:
• Variation in answers make coding/scoring difficult
Advantages of Open-ended Questions
• Do not impose researcher's opinion on respondent
• Can lead to a very precise answer
Forced-Choice Questions
• How many books do you read each year? Please check as appropriate below:
___ none ___ 1 to 5___ 6 to 10___ 11 to 20___ more than 20
• What do you recall about the frequency of snowfall in Boston during the winter of 1994?
___ It snowed almost every day___ It snowed about once a week___ It snowed about once every two weeks
___ It snowed about once a month
Importance of Wording• Take a very simple question:
How many drinks do you have each day? (Check one of the following)
____5 or more
____4____3____2____1____none
Better to Ask
• Are your daily drinking habits reasonably consistent --i.e. do you take about the same number of alcoholic drinks each day?
_____YES
_____NO (if you mark "NO," skip the following question).
Checking Respondents' Consistency
Q. 4. Check one of the following:_x_ I believe that manufacturing should be
increasingly computerized, even if layoffs ensue.
___ Preserving the jobs of workers is more important than computerizing manufacturing.
Later on, the Researcher Might Ask:
Q. 30. Check one of the following:___ I support G.M.'s increasing use of robotics,
despite the resulting massive layoffs.
_x_ The government should force G.M. to curtail computerization to ensure a reduction in
layoffs.
Avoid Emotional Language
• “What do you think about a policy to pay murderous terrorists who threaten to steal the freedoms of peace-loving people?”
Problematic Words: murderous
freedomsstealpeace
What is your present marital status?
1 never married 2 married 3 divorced 4 separated 5 widowed
Arrangement Is Important
A Better Arrangement Would Be:
• What is your present marital status? (circle number)
1. never married2. married3. divorced4. separated5. widowed
Danger of Overlapping
• Check How Many Children are in Your Family:
a. 0-1 children
b. 1-2 children
c. 2 or more children
Avoid Prestige Bias
• “Most doctors say that cigarette smoke causes lung disease for those near a smoker”. Do you agree?”
• “Do you support the president’s policy regarding Zanozui?”
Avoid Double-Barreled Questions:
• "Does your company have pension and health insurance benefits?"
Avoid loaded questions:
• "Should the mayor spend even more tax money trying to keep the streets in top shape?"
• "Should the mayor fix the pot-holed and dangerous streets in our city?"
Ranking Answers (Likert Scale Format):
• Women should automatically receive three months maternity leave in your company
strongly agree partly agree disagree strongly agree disagree
___ ___ ___ ___ ___
How often do you attend church?
Never Yearly Monthly Weekly Daily
____ ___ ___ ___ ___
Visual Analog Scales BIPOLAR scales
I SEE MYSELF AS:
Extremely Extremely interested in uninterested
politics ______:______:______:______:______ in politics