Asking Questions - The Definitive Guide To Questionnaire Design ...

ASKING THREATENING QUESTIONS ABOUT BEHAVIOR 81
4. The use of familiar words may increase the frequency with
which socially undesirable behaviors are reported.
5. To reduce overreporting of socially desirable behavior, use
data from knowledgeable informants when possible.
6. For socially undesirable behavior, it is better to ask whether
the respondent has ever engaged in the behavior before asking
whether they currently engage in that behavior. For socially
desirable behavior, it is better to ask about current behavior
first rather than asking about their usual or typical behavior.
7. To reduce the perceived importance of the threatening topic,
embed it in a list of more and less threatening topics.
8. Consider alternatives to standard questions such as randomized
response or card sorting.
9. Do not depend on wording such as “Did you happen to” to
improve reporting of threatening questions. Such wording may
actually increase the perceived threat of the question.
10. To increase both reliability and validity, consider using diaries
or asking questions in several waves of a panel.
11. Avoid asking the same question twice in a questionnaire as a
reliability check. This will annoy respondents and may increase
the perceived importance of the topic to the respondent.
12. Ask questions at the end of the interview to determine how
threatening the topics were perceived to be by the respondent.
13. Attempt to validate, even if only on an aggregate level.
Disease Detection Activities
Six Examples of Questions on
Socially Desirable Behavior
Health care researchers have usually found that disease prevention
activities are seen as desirable behavior and are overreported when
compared to medical records. Figure 3.1 gives a series of questions