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

ASKING AND RECORDING QUESTIONS 177
Card sorting techniques could be used effectively in Web-based
surveys employing the programming technology that is used in
computer games.
Summary
This chapter started with a discussion of the uses of open-answer
formats and closed-answer formats (with precoded or field-coded
response categories). Although there are some important uses of
open answers, most questions you write should probably be precoded.
Field coding by the interviewer should be avoided as much
as possible, since it introduces another possible source of error.
Respondents can generally only remember a maximum of five
responses unless visual cues are used. Using graphic images such as
thermometers and ladders and using card sorting for complex ratings
has been effective, even in two dimensions.
In discussing procedures for obtaining rankings, we pointed out
that respondents have great difficulty ranking many items and that,
in this case, you might be willing to settle for the three most and the
three least desirable items. Paired comparisons are also possible, but
the number that can be ranked is limited by respondent fatigue.
Even at the risk of boring the respondent, however, we argue that it
is better to obtain an answer to each item on a list, rather than to
tell respondents to indicate only those that apply.
Additional Reading
There are not many easily available discussions of response options
for questions. One of the best is Don Dilman’s Mail and Internet Surveys:
The Tailored Design Method, 2nd edition (2000).
Much more is available on methods of combining the data from
separate questions into scales for analytic purposes. A good general
discussion of attitude scaling is in Kidder (1981, chap. 9) and
Bailey (1978). A somewhat more technical treatment of scaling is
found in McIver and Carmines (1981).