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

GLOSSARY 357
knowledgeable. Some of the information they provide, however,
may reflect their own beliefs. (See also projective questions.)
knowledge questions Questions that test the respondent’s knowledge
about current issues and persons or attempt to measure educational
achievement or general ability.
loaded questions Questions worded so that certain desired answers
are more likely to be given by respondents. Loaded questions may
be legitimately used to overcome a respondent’s reluctance to report
threatening behavior. The major illegitimate use of loaded questions
is in surveys intended for lobbying or other persuasive purposes
when the loading of an attitude question is in the direction of
the views held by the question writer.
memory error An unintentional error in the reporting of a behavior,
caused either by forgetting that the event occurred or misremembering
some details of the event. (See also telescoping for error
in date.)
multiple choice questions See closed-ended and open-ended questions.
“no answer” See “don’t know, “no opinion, “undecided,” and “no answer”
responses.
nonverbal questions Questions in which either the stimulus or the
response is nonverbal, such as a picture, map, piece of music, or
physical object. Such questions are most often used as tests of
knowledge.
open-ended questions See closed-ended and open-ended questions.
opinions See attitude and opinion questions.
order effect A change in the distribution (or frequency) of responses
to a question, caused either by the order in which the alternative
answers are given to the respondent or by the position of the
question after earlier questions on the topic. (See also context of
questionnaire.)