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

GLOSSARY 353
or what the column refers, even when pages are turned. Using diecut
pages eliminates work, too, since the persons or items only need
to be recorded once. Pages may be cut with special die-cutting
equipment or paper cutters. (See Question 14 in Appendix B.)
“don’t know,” “no opinion,” “undecided,” and “no answer” responses
A “don’t know” answer is given by a respondent to indicate
that he or she would be willing to answer the question but is unable
to do so due to lack of information. In difficult or sensitive questions
about behavior, a “don’t know” may also be a polite refusal to answer.
A “no opinion” response to an attitude question indicates that the
respondent has not yet formed an opinion on the issue. An “undecided”
answer indicates that the respondent cannot choose between
two or more alternatives to a closed question. A “no answer” typically
is caused by a refusal to answer the question or by a respondent’s
breaking off the interview at some early point. It might also be caused
by interviewer error if an interviewer skipped the question. For many
research purposes, these categories may be combined, but for some
purposes it is useful to have them separated. Thus, for example, on a
controversial attitude question, it is useful to separate those who
refuse to answer the question from those who are undecided between
alternatives and from those who have not formed an opinion. These
separate response categories should be read to the respondent, or an
additional probe question should be asked.
false positives and false negatives Sometimes respondents will be
classified as having an attribute they do not in fact have (false positive).
Sometimes they will be classified as not having an attribute
when in fact they do have it (false negative). For example, someone
who says he voted in the last election but is shown by a record
check not to have voted would be a false positive. Someone who
said she was not a registered voter but who appeared on the list of
registered voters would be a false negative.
field (used in precolumning) The set of columns in which the
information is stored on an IBM card is called a “field.” A column