24.10.2014 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

144 ASKING QUESTIONS<br />

very salient to respondents. For such issues, respondents may react<br />

primarily on the basis of their attitude for or against the source and<br />

not on the issue.<br />

A more subtle form of combining questions might be called the<br />

one-and-a-half-barreled question. In this form the question is posed<br />

about a single attitude object, and respondents are asked to respond<br />

along a scale showing favor or disfavor. <strong>The</strong> responses start quite<br />

straightforwardly along a single dimension, but somewhere along<br />

the line a second opinion object is introduced as part of the<br />

response continuum. A one-and-a-half-barreled question is illustrated<br />

in Figure 4.5.<br />

Here the response categories begin with strong support and appear<br />

to be moving steadily toward strong opposition. All of a sudden,<br />

in the third statement, the mention of national defense (really<br />

another implicit question) brings to bear opinions about another<br />

attitude object, namely, defense policy. <strong>The</strong>n in the fourth response<br />

category, respondents are reminded that the agreement is with Russia.<br />

As a result, opinion was pulled toward less support for the treaty,<br />

whereas respondents reported stronger support for the SALT treaty<br />

in other surveys without such references.<br />

Double-barreled questions and even one-and-a-half-barreled<br />

questions can be avoided if the question writer is alert to the problem.<br />

At times, however, even experienced question writers will fail<br />

Figure 4.5. One-and-a-Half-Barreled-<strong>Questions</strong><br />

Related to the SALT II Treaty.<br />

<strong>The</strong> United States is now negotiating a strategic-arms agreement with the<br />

Soviet Union in what is known as SALT II. Which one of the following statements<br />

is closest to your opinion on these negotiations?<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

I strongly support SALT II<br />

SALT II is somewhat disappointing, but on balance I have to support it.<br />

I would like to see more protection for the United States before I would<br />

be ready to support SALT II.<br />

I strongly oppose the SALT II arms agreement with the Russians.<br />

I don’t know enough about the SALT II to have an opinion yet.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!