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

152 ASKING QUESTIONS
Checklist of Major Points
1. Use open-ended questions sparingly; they are primarily useful
for developmental work, to explore a topic in depth, and to
obtain quotable material. Closed-ended questions are more
difficult to construct, but they are easier to analyze and
generate less unwanted interviewer and coder variance.
2. Avoid interviewer field coding if at all possible. If necessary,
it is better to have field coding done by the respondent.
3. Start with the end of a scale that is the least socially desirable.
Otherwise, the respondent may choose a socially desirable
answer without hearing or reading the entire set of responses.
4. Do not use verbal rating scales with more than four or five
verbal points. For more detailed scales, use numerical scales.
5. Consider using analogies such as thermometers, ladders, telephone
dials, and clocks for numerical scales with many points.
6. Respondents can rank their preferences for alternatives only
when they can see or remember all alternatives. In telephone
interviews, ranking should be limited to two or three alternatives
at a time. In self-administered and face-to-face interviews
where cards are used, respondents can rank no more than
four or five alternatives. If many alternatives are present,
respondents can rank the three most desirable and the
three least desirable.
7. Rankings can be obtained by a series of paired-comparison
questions. Respondent fatigue, however, limits the number
of alternatives that can be ranked.
8. Rather than having people respond to a list simply by telling
them to “Check as many as apply,” the information will be
much more complete and valuable if each item is individually
responded to with a “yes” or “no,” “applies” or “does not apply,”
“true for me” or ”not true for me,” and the like.