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

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ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS 147<br />

<strong>The</strong> results of a split-ballot experiment (where the order of<br />

such questions was rotated) indicated that responses to the more<br />

general question relating to overall happiness was affected by the<br />

order of the questions, but the specific question on marriage happiness<br />

was not. (Of course, only respondents who were currently<br />

married were asked both questions.) One explanation for these<br />

findings is that when the general question comes first, it is answered<br />

in terms of one’s whole life, including marriage. In contrast, when<br />

the more specific question about marriage happiness comes first, the<br />

overall happiness question is interpreted as referring to all other<br />

aspects of life except marriage. It is as if respondents, already having<br />

been asked the question about marriage happiness, were excluding<br />

this part of their lives from further consideration. Schuman,<br />

Presser, and Ludwig (1981) have reported similar findings for general<br />

and specific attitude items relating to abortion.<br />

Although it is consistently found that only the general question<br />

is influenced by placement, the direction of the effect is not consistent<br />

and varies from question to question. In general, the direction<br />

of the effect appears to depend on the relation of the thoughts that<br />

are triggered by the specific question and how respondents interpret<br />

these as they answer the subsequent general question. If the specific<br />

question triggers positive associations, it appears to increase positive<br />

responses to the general question. If the thoughts aroused by<br />

the specific question are negative, the effect appears to be negative.<br />

<strong>The</strong> specific question may narrow the interpretation to the meaning<br />

of the general question and have a corresponding effect on<br />

answers to the general question. Although you may be able to predict<br />

the direction of the change by knowing whether the answers<br />

to the specific question tended to be positive or negative, splitballot<br />

experiments are necessary to answer the question definitively.<br />

Because you may be interested in comparing the answers of general<br />

questions to data from other surveys (for instance, to compare<br />

effects across time), it is usually best to put a general question first<br />

so that responses are not influenced by the more specific questions.

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