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

100 ASKING QUESTIONS
It must be recognized, however, that self-administered methods
do not yield perfect information. Some behaviors are so threatening
to respondents that they would not report the behavior even if
assured of perfect anonymity. More often, however, respondents do
not completely trust the assurances of anonymity. They recognize
that someone, if not the interviewer, will be looking at their answers
and that there is some possibility they might be personally
identified. The more threatening the question, the less effective
anonymity will be.
Before the days of computer-assisted interviewing, the methods
usually involved respondents reading the questions, circling the
answer, and then putting the completed form in a sealed envelope
that was returned to the interviewer. Alternatively, they would
sometimes put completed forms into a sealed ballot box with a lock
to simulate the box found at polling places. One especially effective
form of self-administration involves group administration, whereby
groups of people each complete individual questionnaires that are
then collected into a common box or envelope. Since the forms
contain no identifying information, group members have a strong
feeling of anonymity. This is a likely explanation for why drug studies
conducted in classrooms generally yield higher reports of usage
than individual drug interviews.
Currently, when the interview is conducted with a computer,
the respondent is given a computer and enters the answers directly
into it. If the respondent has difficulty reading, the interviewer may
read the question and the respondent may enter the answer. Even in
this scenario, having the interviewer read the question appears to
reduce the respondent’s sense of anonymity. Audio computer methods
that eliminate the interviewer entirely are now increasingly
used. The questions are read by a recorded voice and the respondent
hears them on a set of earphones and enters the answer. No one else
in the room can hear the questions. Almost all the other features of
computer-assisted interviewing discussed in detail in Chapter Ten
(such as branching and skipping questions) are also available.