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

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332 ASKING QUESTIONS How Should the Questions Be Ordered? There are two key considerations when ordering questions. (See Chapter Ten.) First, questions should be ordered so as to minimize the effect of respondents’ answers on subsequent questions. (See Chapter Four.) Second, questions should be ordered in a way that motivates respondents to complete the questionnaire. Start with fact-based questions and then go on to opinion-based questions. Begin with interesting and nonthreatening questions that are easy to answer. People generally look at the first few questions before deciding whether or not to complete the questionnaire. If the first questions are too threatening or “boring,” there is little chance that the person will complete the questionnaire. Make respondents want to continue by putting interesting questions first. In addition, place the most important questions in the first part of the mail questionnaire. Respondents often send back partially completed questionnaires, and if the important questions are toward the front, these partially completed questionnaires will still contain important information. Try to order questions in a way that holds respondents’ interest. Try to provide variety in the type of items used. Varying the questioning format will also prevent respondents from falling into “response sets.” Still, it is important to group items into coherent categories so that all items flow smoothly from one to the next. How Do I Know My Questionnaire Is Complete? Pretest your questionnaire with a small group of colleagues or with people from the population you will be surveying. (See Chapter Eleven.) This pretest allows you to determine if the questionnaire is gathering the data you need and is convenient for respondents to fill out; it can also help you avoid costly mistakes. It can be useful to ask a group of test respondents to criticize a preliminary version of the questionnaire. The purpose of these
ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 333 activities is to determine relevance of the questions and the extent to which there may be problems in obtaining responses. For example, it might be determined that respondents are likely to be offended by a certain type of question, that a line of questioning is not useful, or that a question is misunderstood. Notes 1. For example, if three people report “I hate my boss,” “I detest my boss,” and “I loathe my boss,” we would probably combine these responses into a single category, such as “Dislike of Supervisor.” Many researchers would code these answers into three categories: “Hate of Supervisor,” “Detestation of Supervisor,” and “Loathing of Supervisor.” Using trivial differences to classify data contributes to inaccurate coding. For example, identical responses by two different people may be classified in different categories by the same coder—or two different coders may classify the same response in different categories. 2. A reason frequently given for using open-ended questions is to capture unsuspected information. This reason is valid for brief, informal questionnaires given to groups made up of less than fifty respondents. When surveying small groups, a simple listing of the responses to each question usually conveys their overall character. However, in the case of a larger sample, it is necessary to categorize responses to each question in order to analyze these responses. This process is time-consuming and introduces error. It is far better to determine the prevalent categories in advance and ask the respondents to select among those offered. In most cases, obscure categories that apply only to very small minorities of respondents should not be included. A preliminary open-ended questionnaire sent to a small group of people is often a good way to establish the prevalent categories in advance.
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Asking Questions The Definitive Gui
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Norman M. Bradburn Seymour Sudman B
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Copyright © 2004 by John Wiley & S
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viii CONTENTS 12. Asking Questions
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Preface This book is a revised and
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PREFACE xiii trate some of the subt
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The Authors Norman M. Bradburn (Ph.
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Asking Questions
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Chapter One The Social Context of Q
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THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF QUESTION ASKI
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Chapter Two Asking Nonthreatening Q
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ASKING NONTHREATENING QUESTIONS ABO
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Figure 2.4. Household Health Diary.
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Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census,
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80 ASKING QUESTIONS e. The Sealed B
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82 ASKING QUESTIONS asking about te
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84 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 3.2. Que
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86 ASKING QUESTIONS into a car, mig
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88 ASKING QUESTIONS relationship be
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90 ASKING QUESTIONS from 55 percent
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92 ASKING QUESTIONS Illegal Drug Us
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94 ASKING QUESTIONS drinkers—may.
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100 ASKING QUESTIONS It must be rec
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102 ASKING QUESTIONS To illustrate
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104 ASKING QUESTIONS This applies t
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106 ASKING QUESTIONS When some resp
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108 ASKING QUESTIONS drinking quest
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110 ASKING QUESTIONS them less thre
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112 ASKING QUESTIONS Determining th
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114 ASKING QUESTIONS carefully for
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Chapter Four Asking Questions About
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ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT ATTITUDES AN
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Chapter Five Asking and Recording O
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ASKING AND RECORDING QUESTIONS 153
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180 ASKING QUESTIONS 2. Consider wh
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182 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 6.2. Qu
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184 ASKING QUESTIONS Specific knowl
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186 ASKING QUESTIONS question. Anot
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192 ASKING QUESTIONS Resident Infor
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194 ASKING QUESTIONS It must be rec
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196 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 6.10. Q
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198 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 6.11. S
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200 ASKING QUESTIONS Figure 6.11. S
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202 ASKING QUESTIONS question indic
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204 ASKING QUESTIONS state or count
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206 ASKING QUESTIONS respondents wi
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208 ASKING QUESTIONS answers, most
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210 ASKING QUESTIONS on the Web sin
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Chapter Seven Asking Questions that
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ASKING QUESTIONS THAT EVALUATE PERF
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• Depends heavily on employee’s
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244 ASKING QUESTIONS make a particu
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246 ASKING QUESTIONS on demographic
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248 ASKING QUESTIONS Table 8.1. Eig
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250 ASKING QUESTIONS domain and rel
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252 ASKING QUESTIONS Seven Steps to
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254 ASKING QUESTIONS the frequency
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256 ASKING QUESTIONS The fourth ste
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258 ASKING QUESTIONS empty cells. I
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Chapter Nine Asking Standard Demogr
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ASKING STANDARD DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIO
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Page 303 and 304: Chapter Ten Organizing and Designin
Page 305 and 306: ORGANIZING AND DESIGNING QUESTIONNA
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Page 337 and 338: QUESTIONNAIRES FROM START TO FINISH
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Page 345 and 346: ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 325 tain you
Page 347 and 348: Do you own an IBM-type of PC? Yes
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Page 372 and 373: 352 GLOSSARY the sex of the respond
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Page 382 and 383: 362 GLOSSARY response effect A gene
Page 384 and 385: 364 GLOSSARY questionnaires list th
Page 387 and 388: Index A Ability, measuring, 197-202
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Page 393 and 394: INDEX 373 preferences, 167-168; thr
Page 395 and 396: Appendix A List of Academic and Not
Page 397 and 398: APPENDIX A 377 Phoenix, AZ 85003-17
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APPENDIX A 383 E-mail: jbason@arche
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APPENDIX A 385 Phone: 312-996-5300
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APPENDIX A 387 Phone: 785-532-5510
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APPENDIX A 389 Center for the Study
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APPENDIX A 391 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-
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APPENDIX A 393 731 Oldfather Hall L
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APPENDIX A 395 New York Marist Coll
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APPENDIX A 397 Cornell University I
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APPENDIX A 399 225 South Main St. A
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APPENDIX A 401 121 University Pl. P
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APPENDIX A 403 South Dakota Busines
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APPENDIX A 405 Public Policy Resear
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APPENDIX A 407 E-mail: sesrc@wsu.ed
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APPENDIX A 409 England National Cen
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412 APPENDIX B PLEASE CIRCLE ONE CO
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414 APPENDIX B 14. Who purchased th
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416 APPENDIX B 23. What racial/ethn
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Faculty Retention Survey December 2
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2. Professional Life Important to y
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4. Environment Important to you Imp
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Appendix D Kinko’s: Open-ended Se
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