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

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88 ASKING QUESTIONS relationship between household informants and reporting accuracy is an important one that will be discussed later on in this book. Reporting accuracy is also a function of the actual percentage of people voting. Presidential election questions are probably answered most accurately, since more registered voters actually vote in presidential elections. In May 1949, 13 percent of the population claimed to have voted in the 1948 presidential election and did not, according to the voting records. People were also asked if they had voted in the presidential election four years earlier in 1944. Of those claiming to have voted, 23 percent could not be matched with reported voting records. Of respondents in the NORC survey, 65 percent reported that they had voted in 1976 (General Social Survey, 1977–78). The Current Population Survey based on data from a household informant indicated that 59 percent of the population had voted (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1976). The actual percentage voting was 57.5 percent. Although some of the differences between NORC and the Current Population Survey may be the result of other factors, these results suggest that for voting and other socially desirable behaviors, more reliable information is obtained from an informant rather than from the individual directly, because informants find questions about others less threatening than questions about themselves. Substantially higher overreporting of voting is possible in elections where fewer people vote. Primary and most local elections are less salient to respondents and easier to confuse with other elections. It is also difficult for the researcher to provide memory cues, because the list of candidates is long. For these elections, it would be especially desirable to use an informant if possible. Nevertheless, substantial overstatements should still be expected. Ideas about what technique best alleviates errors in reporting on voting have changed in recent years. In a recent survey regarding November 2000 voting and registration, the U.S. Census Bureau focused on increasing the number of people who truthfully completed the questionnaire. (See Figure 3.5.) The questions therefore
ASKING THREATENING QUESTIONS ABOUT BEHAVIOR 89 Figure 3.5. Voting Questions that Improved Accuracy. 1. In any election, some people are not able to vote because they are sick or busy or have some other reason, and others do not want to vote. Did you vote in the election held on Tuesday, November 7? Yes No 2. What was the main reason you did not vote? Illness or disability (own or family’s) Out of town or away from home Forgot to vote (or send in absentee ballot) Not interested, felt my vote wouldn’t make a difference Too busy, conflicting work or school schedule Transportation problems Didn’t like candidates or campaign issues Registration problems (i.e. didn’t receive absentee ballot, not registered in current location) Bad weather conditions Inconvenient hours, polling place or hours or lines too long Other Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2001. centered on making participants feel comfortable reporting on whether or not they voted in the presidential election. They were first asked if they voted. The initial question took great care to make it clear that a person may not be able to vote or may choose not to vote for many reasons. If respondents answered no, they were then asked why they did not vote, and they were given eleven different answer options from which to choose. The next questions then dealt with when and how the person registered to vote. The intent of this survey was clearly to obtain an accurate estimate of the number of voters in the 2000 election. In contrast to previous U.S. Census Bureau reports, this report based voting and registration rates on the citizen population of voting age—taking into account that not all people of voting age in the United States are citizens and are eligible to vote. This change in criteria also changed the end voter turnout rate a full five percentage points,
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Asking Questions The Definitive Gui
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Norman M. Bradburn Seymour Sudman B
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Copyright © 2004 by John Wiley & S
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viii CONTENTS 12. Asking Questions
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Preface This book is a revised and
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PREFACE xiii trate some of the subt
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The Authors Norman M. Bradburn (Ph.
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Asking Questions
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Chapter One The Social Context of Q
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THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF QUESTION ASKI
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Chapter Two Asking Nonthreatening Q
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ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT ATTITUDES AN
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Chapter Five Asking and Recording O
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ASKING AND RECORDING QUESTIONS 153
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180 ASKING QUESTIONS 2. Consider wh
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182 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 6.2. Qu
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184 ASKING QUESTIONS Specific knowl
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186 ASKING QUESTIONS question. Anot
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192 ASKING QUESTIONS Resident Infor
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194 ASKING QUESTIONS It must be rec
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196 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 6.10. Q
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198 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 6.11. S
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200 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 6.11. S
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202 ASKING QUESTIONS question indic
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204 ASKING QUESTIONS state or count
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206 ASKING QUESTIONS respondents wi
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208 ASKING QUESTIONS answers, most
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210 ASKING QUESTIONS on the Web sin
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Chapter Seven Asking Questions that
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ASKING QUESTIONS THAT EVALUATE PERF
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• Depends heavily on employee’s
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244 ASKING QUESTIONS make a particu
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246 ASKING QUESTIONS on demographic
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248 ASKING QUESTIONS Table 8.1. Eig
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250 ASKING QUESTIONS domain and rel
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252 ASKING QUESTIONS Seven Steps to
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254 ASKING QUESTIONS the frequency
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256 ASKING QUESTIONS The fourth ste
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258 ASKING QUESTIONS empty cells. I
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Chapter Nine Asking Standard Demogr
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ASKING STANDARD DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIO
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Chapter Ten Organizing and Designin
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ORGANIZING AND DESIGNING QUESTIONNA
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Fill- Ins Easily done with a Possib
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Chapter Eleven Questionnaires from
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QUESTIONNAIRES FROM START TO FINISH
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Chapter Twelve Asking Questions FAQ
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 325 tain you
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Do you own an IBM-type of PC? Yes
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 329 Ranking q
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 331 guish bet
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 333 activitie
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336 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RECOMMENDED RE
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348 GLOSSARY object. The term belie
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350 GLOSSARY are entered directly i
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352 GLOSSARY the sex of the respond
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354 GLOSSARY of an IBM card is a on
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356 GLOSSARY individual difference
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358 GLOSSARY overreporting, underre
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360 GLOSSARY because of illness or
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362 GLOSSARY response effect A gene
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364 GLOSSARY questionnaires list th
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Index A Ability, measuring, 197-202
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INDEX 369 Denver, 86; Community che
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INDEX 371 Library card ownership, 8
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INDEX 373 preferences, 167-168; thr
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Appendix A List of Academic and Not
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APPENDIX A 377 Phoenix, AZ 85003-17
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APPENDIX A 379 Fax: 310-206-4453 E-
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APPENDIX A 381 800 Florida Ave., N.
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APPENDIX A 383 E-mail: jbason@arche
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APPENDIX A 385 Phone: 312-996-5300
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APPENDIX A 387 Phone: 785-532-5510
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APPENDIX A 389 Center for the Study
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APPENDIX A 391 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-
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APPENDIX A 393 731 Oldfather Hall L
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APPENDIX A 395 New York Marist Coll
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APPENDIX A 397 Cornell University I
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APPENDIX A 399 225 South Main St. A
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APPENDIX A 401 121 University Pl. P
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APPENDIX A 403 South Dakota Busines
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APPENDIX A 405 Public Policy Resear
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APPENDIX A 407 E-mail: sesrc@wsu.ed
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APPENDIX A 409 England National Cen
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412 APPENDIX B PLEASE CIRCLE ONE CO
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414 APPENDIX B 14. Who purchased th
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416 APPENDIX B 23. What racial/ethn
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Faculty Retention Survey December 2
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2. Professional Life Important to y
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4. Environment Important to you Imp
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Appendix D Kinko’s: Open-ended Se
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