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

114 ASKING QUESTIONS
carefully for such measures before concluding that no validation is
possible. If the behavior involves a product or service, you can
compare consumer reports with those of manufacturers, retailers,
or suppliers of the service, as with purchases of beer, wine, and
liquor. For socially desirable behavior such as giving to charity, you
can compare the amounts reported with the total amounts
received; reported play and concert attendance can be compared
with figures on total tickets sold. But be careful to avoid comparing
apples and oranges. In many cases there will be a nonhousehold
component in the validation data. Thus, business firms also
contribute to charity and purchase goods from retailers. On the
other hand, validation data may be useful, even if the comparisons
are not perfect.
Summary
Threatening behavior questions are intrinsically more difficult to
ask than are nonthreatening questions. As the questions become
very threatening, substantial response biases should be expected,
regardless of the survey techniques or question wordings used. For
less threatening questions, carefully designed question formats and
wording can substantially improve response accuracy.
The procedures suggested in this chapter for obtaining more
accurate reports of threatening topics include: (1) using selfadministered
methods to increase perceptions of confidentiality,
(2) using card sorting and randomized response, (3) using openended
questions, (4) using long questions with familiar words,
(5) using informants, (6) using diaries and panels, (7) embedding
the question, (8) choosing the appropriate time frame, (9) making
the questions less threatening. For socially desirable behavior,
ask respondents about their most recent behavior rather than about
their usual behavior. For socially undesirable behavior, ask respondents
whether they have ever engaged in a particular behavior
before asking about their current behavior.