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

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156 ASKING QUESTIONS time to get their thoughts in order and then express them fully on a topic. They can be rushed along only at the cost of losing considerable amounts of information. Using open-ended questions requires greater interviewer skill in recognizing ambiguities of response and in probing and drawing respondents out, particularly those who are reticent or not highly verbal. This aspect of the open-ended format has made some investigators wary of its use except in situations when they have the time and money to provide well-trained and well-supervised interviewers and coders. Open-ended response formats may work better with telephone interviews, where close supervision of interviewer quality can be maintained, although there is evidence that shorter answers to open-ended questions are given on the telephone (Groves and Kahn, 1979). No matter how well controlled the interviewers may be, however, factors such as carelessness and verbal facility will generate greater individual variance among respondents than would be the case with precoded questions. Questions concerning age, state of residence, or credit-hours earned may be more easily answered by filling in blanks than by selecting among categories. If the answers are numerical, an openanswer response mode can enhance the power of inferential statistical procedures. Even if these handwritten answers are eventually assigned to categories for analysis, there is more flexibility in determining what categories can be used. If estimates are being taken (such as distance to work or weight), however, it is usually better to offer response categories. Using Closed-Answer Formats A closed-answer response is recorded in predetermined categories selected by respondents or the interviewer as appropriate. These involve a wide range of questions, including those that ask respondents to check the box or circle the response that is most appropriate. For closed questions, a distinction is made between
ASKING AND RECORDING QUESTIONS 157 “field-coded” (interviewer-selected) response categories and “precoded” (respondent-selected) categories. The Dangers of Field Coding In a field-coded question, the question itself might be identical to that of an open-answer format, but instead of a blank space for the interviewer to write in the respondent’s exact words, a set of codes are printed or appear on the screen. The interviewer simply checks each topic that is mentioned. For example, for the question “What are the most important problems facing the nation today?” the topics might include such things as terrorism, deficit spending, unemployment, the Middle East situation, health care costs, and the environment. Such categories are typically formulated from pretests or from results of the same question used in an open-ended fashion. In order to preserve the information about the order in which answers were given, the questionnaire might include precoded responses in separate columns for first-mentioned topic, secondmentioned topic, and so on. With such field coding, provision can be made for an “Other” category, so that responses that have not been anticipated or are not frequent enough to warrant a separate coding category can also be recorded. Field coding is a technique applied by those who wish to retain the advantages of the open format, but without its cost disadvantages. It allows respondents to answer in their own words and it reduces costs and coding time, since the interviewer codes the respondents’ answers into predetermined response categories at the time of interview. Interviewers are often instructed to write the respondents’ verbatim answers and to then do the coding after the response is completely recorded in order not to prejudge the meaning. In practice, however, when precodes are available, interviewers typically do not fully record answers, particularly if the precodes would make the verbatim comments redundant. However, if the interviewer does not record the respondent’s answers
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Asking Questions The Definitive Gui
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Norman M. Bradburn Seymour Sudman B
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Copyright © 2004 by John Wiley & S
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viii CONTENTS 12. Asking Questions
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Preface This book is a revised and
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PREFACE xiii trate some of the subt
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The Authors Norman M. Bradburn (Ph.
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Asking Questions
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Chapter One The Social Context of Q
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THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF QUESTION ASKI
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Chapter Two Asking Nonthreatening Q
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ASKING NONTHREATENING QUESTIONS ABO
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Figure 2.4. Household Health Diary.
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Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census,
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80 ASKING QUESTIONS e. The Sealed B
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82 ASKING QUESTIONS asking about te
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84 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 3.2. Que
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86 ASKING QUESTIONS into a car, mig
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88 ASKING QUESTIONS relationship be
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90 ASKING QUESTIONS from 55 percent
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92 ASKING QUESTIONS Illegal Drug Us
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94 ASKING QUESTIONS drinkers—may.
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100 ASKING QUESTIONS It must be rec
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102 ASKING QUESTIONS To illustrate
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104 ASKING QUESTIONS This applies t
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206 ASKING QUESTIONS respondents wi
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208 ASKING QUESTIONS answers, most
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210 ASKING QUESTIONS on the Web sin
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Chapter Seven Asking Questions that
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ASKING QUESTIONS THAT EVALUATE PERF
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• Depends heavily on employee’s
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244 ASKING QUESTIONS make a particu
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246 ASKING QUESTIONS on demographic
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248 ASKING QUESTIONS Table 8.1. Eig
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250 ASKING QUESTIONS domain and rel
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252 ASKING QUESTIONS Seven Steps to
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254 ASKING QUESTIONS the frequency
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256 ASKING QUESTIONS The fourth ste
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258 ASKING QUESTIONS empty cells. I
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Chapter Nine Asking Standard Demogr
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ASKING STANDARD DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIO
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Chapter Ten Organizing and Designin
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ORGANIZING AND DESIGNING QUESTIONNA
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Fill- Ins Easily done with a Possib
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Chapter Eleven Questionnaires from
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QUESTIONNAIRES FROM START TO FINISH
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Chapter Twelve Asking Questions FAQ
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 325 tain you
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Do you own an IBM-type of PC? Yes
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 329 Ranking q
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 331 guish bet
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 333 activitie
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336 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RECOMMENDED RE
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348 GLOSSARY object. The term belie
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350 GLOSSARY are entered directly i
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352 GLOSSARY the sex of the respond
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354 GLOSSARY of an IBM card is a on
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356 GLOSSARY individual difference
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358 GLOSSARY overreporting, underre
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360 GLOSSARY because of illness or
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362 GLOSSARY response effect A gene
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364 GLOSSARY questionnaires list th
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Index A Ability, measuring, 197-202
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INDEX 369 Denver, 86; Community che
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INDEX 371 Library card ownership, 8
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INDEX 373 preferences, 167-168; thr
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Appendix A List of Academic and Not
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APPENDIX A 377 Phoenix, AZ 85003-17
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APPENDIX A 379 Fax: 310-206-4453 E-
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APPENDIX A 381 800 Florida Ave., N.
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APPENDIX A 383 E-mail: jbason@arche
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APPENDIX A 385 Phone: 312-996-5300
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APPENDIX A 387 Phone: 785-532-5510
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APPENDIX A 389 Center for the Study
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APPENDIX A 391 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-
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APPENDIX A 393 731 Oldfather Hall L
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APPENDIX A 395 New York Marist Coll
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APPENDIX A 397 Cornell University I
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APPENDIX A 399 225 South Main St. A
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APPENDIX A 401 121 University Pl. P
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APPENDIX A 403 South Dakota Busines
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APPENDIX A 405 Public Policy Resear
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APPENDIX A 407 E-mail: sesrc@wsu.ed
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APPENDIX A 409 England National Cen
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412 APPENDIX B PLEASE CIRCLE ONE CO
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414 APPENDIX B 14. Who purchased th
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416 APPENDIX B 23. What racial/ethn
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Faculty Retention Survey December 2
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2. Professional Life Important to y
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4. Environment Important to you Imp
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Appendix D Kinko’s: Open-ended Se
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