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

356 GLOSSARY
individual difference measures These are questions that attempt
to differentiate people according to selected psychological variables
such as aggressiveness, need for achievement, impulsivity, innovativeness,
and so on. These questions typically take the form of standard
batteries of questions and are used in psychographic research.
informants Respondents who report information about the behavior
or attitudes of relatives, friends, or acquaintances. If the
selected respondent is not available, informants may be used to
reduce costs or to improve the accuracy of reported behavior for
some threatening topics. (See Chapter Six, “Using Key Informants,”
for the use of the informants in community and institutional
settings.)
informed consent A respondent’s implicit or explicit agreement to
participate in the interview after being informed of the nature of
the task. Information provided to the respondent usually includes
the purpose of the study, the name of the interviewer and the organization
that the interviewer represents, some indication of the
time required, and an explicit mention that sensitive questions
need not be answered. Most surveys do not require written consent
unless additional access to records is required or respondents are
minors.
interviewer instructions (or directions) Instructions to interviewers,
such as which questions to ask or skip and when to probe,
which are included in the questionnaire but not read to the respondent.
These directions are put in a different style of type (such as
italics or capital letters) so that they can easily be distinguished
from the questions. (See also probes.)
key informants, community informants Respondents who provide
information about the community or institution they are associated
with. Key informants are chosen because of their expertise
and are usually identified either because of their formal roles (such
as political official, officer in a firm or organization, or principal of a
school) or because they are identified by other experts as being