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

ASKING AND RECORDING QUESTIONS 173
as apply”), it is difficult to interpret what the absence of a check
mark means. Although the presence of a check mark indicates a
positive instance, its omission might indicate that in fact the adjective
does not apply, or that respondents did not notice that adjective
because they were hurrying over the list, or that they were
not sure whether it would apply. There also are individual differences
in the disposition to use large or small numbers of adjectives
to describe oneself, which further complicates the interpretation of
data based on the instruction “Check as many as apply.”
In format B, respondents have to consider each adjective and
decide whether it applies or does not apply to them. If they do not
check an adjective, the investigator may infer that respondents hurried
over it without seeing it or that they could not decide whether
it applied to them. Even though it is somewhat more cumbersome
to administer, we strongly recommend that when lists are used,
each item be responded to with a “yes” or a “no,” an “applies” or
“does not apply,” or a “true for me” or “not true for me,” rather
than with the instruction “Check as many as apply.” Research indicates
that the “Check as many as apply” format gets fewer
responses than format B.
Visual and Manual Aids
We have discussed a number of ways to provide response formats.
All of these depend on verbal cues or a written card that the respondents
and interviewer can read. These cards typically provide
text (or some portion of text) that the interviewer reads to the respondent.
Even though the respondents are holding the cards, it is
important that the interviewers actually read the questions aloud to
avoid language problems or sight difficulties. In all these strategies,
the respondent is basically passive, and the interview should flow in
a question-and-answer format, with the respondent being called on
to do nothing but speak. In this section we consider a few response
formats that provide respondents with visual material or materials
that require them to do something other than talk.