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

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Chapter Six<br />

<strong>Asking</strong> <strong>Questions</strong> that<br />

Measure Knowledge<br />

Although not so common as behavioral questions, knowledgerelated<br />

questions have many uses in surveys. <strong>The</strong>y can be used to<br />

help explain political behavior, which is strongly impacted by one’s<br />

level of knowledge. <strong>The</strong>y can be used by agencies such as the U.S.<br />

Department of Education to determine the literacy and educational<br />

achievement of adults as an indication of the effectiveness of the<br />

educational process.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y can be used for designing and implementing information<br />

programs or advertising campaigns on public health issues such as<br />

cancer or family planning. Information on the current public level of<br />

knowledge about a subject such as cancer or a product such as a new<br />

electric car is needed before an effective information campaign can<br />

be mounted. After benchmarking a general level of knowledge, the<br />

effectiveness of an information campaign can then be tracked with<br />

additional surveys after the campaign has begun or been completed.<br />

Finally, knowledge-based questions are used to obtain community<br />

or organizational information from community leaders, leaders<br />

or members of organizations, residents, or those who observed or<br />

participated in a particular event.<br />

Checklist of Major Points<br />

1. Before asking attitude questions about issues or persons,<br />

ask knowledge questions to screen out respondents who<br />

lack sufficient information or to classify respondents by<br />

level of knowledge.<br />

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