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

THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF QUESTION ASKING 7
“Welfare” “Assistance to the Poor”
(N = 1,317) (N = 1,390)
Too little 17% 62%
About right 38% 26%
Too much 45% 12%
Total 100% 100%
Not all wording changes cause changes in response distributions.
For example, even though two old examples of questions
about government responsibility to the unemployed were worded
differently, 69 percent of respondents answered “yes.” Perhaps this
is because the questions were fairly general. One question, from a
June 1939 Roper survey, asked, “Do you think our government
should or should not provide for all people who have no other
means of subsistence?” (Hastings and Southwick, 1974, p. 118).
A differently worded question, this one from a Gallup poll of
January 1938, asked, “Do you think it is the government’s responsibility
to pay the living expenses of needy people who are out of
work?” (Gallup, 1972, p. 26).
Respondents are less likely to agree as questions become more
specific, as illustrated by three Gallup questions from May to June
1945:
Do you think the government should give money to workers
who are unemployed for a limited length of time until they
can find another job? (Yes 63%)
It has been proposed that unemployed workers with dependents
be given up to $25 per week by the government for
as many as 26 weeks during one year while they are out of
work and looking for a job. Do you favor or oppose this plan?
(Favor 46%)
Would you be willing to pay higher taxes to give people up
to $25 a week for 26 weeks if they fail to find satisfactory
jobs? (Yes 34%)