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

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