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

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ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS 125<br />

Using separate questions to evaluate attitude strength is illustrated<br />

in another daylight savings time survey. Here the researchers<br />

believed that attitude strength was not evenly divided between<br />

those who preferred daylight savings time and those who did not<br />

prefer it. <strong>The</strong>refore, researchers decided to measure separately the<br />

general orientation pros and cons and the strength of those feelings.<br />

<strong>The</strong> form of the NORC question is given in Figure 4.1. In this case<br />

it was found that those who did not approve of daylight savings time<br />

in fact felt more strongly about it than those who did approve of it.<br />

Again, those who said they had no preference or did not know were<br />

not prodded to see whether they might lean one way or the other.<br />

Aggregate Measures of Attitude<br />

Another strategy for measuring the strength of attitudes is to combine<br />

answers to several separate questions, each one of which is<br />

thought to be a measure of the attitude. This method is most often<br />

Figure 4.1. <strong>Questions</strong> on Daylight Savings Time.<br />

As you know, the time that we set our clocks to can be changed if we wish.<br />

For example, in most parts of the country, we set our clocks ahead one hour<br />

in the summer, so that it gets dark at around 9 o’clock instead of 8 o’clock.<br />

This is known as daylight savings time.<br />

Some people think that we should go onto daylight savings time all year<br />

around, that is, turning the clocks ahead one hour and leaving them there.<br />

Would you approve or disapprove of going onto daylight savings time all<br />

year round, or don’t you care one way or the other?<br />

Approve (Ask a.)<br />

Don’t care<br />

Disapprove (Ask a.)<br />

Don’t know<br />

a. How strongly do you feel about it? Do you (dis)approve very strongly,<br />

pretty strongly, or not too strongly?<br />

Very strongly<br />

Pretty strongly<br />

Not too strongly<br />

Source: National Opinion Research Center, 1977.

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