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

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20 ASKING QUESTIONS The Research Question Versus the Actual Question Being Asked In discussing questionnaire development, we must distinguish between the research question and the particular questions that you ask respondents in order to answer the research question. The research question defines the purposes of the study and is the touchstone against which decisions are made about the specific individual questions to be included in the questionnaire. The research question is most often general and may involve abstract concepts that would not be easily understood by the respondents being surveyed. For example, you may want to determine the attitudes of the American public on gun control, the effects of a particular television program on health information and health practices of those who view it, or whether an increase in automation is resulting in an increase in worker alienation. Articulating the Specific Purpose of the Study Regardless of whether the purpose of the research is to test a social scientific theory or to estimate the distribution of certain attitudes or behaviors in a population, the procedures for questionnaire construction are similar. First you will need to identify the concepts involved in the research question. Then you will formulate specific questions that, when combined and analyzed, will measure these key concepts. For example, if you are interested in the attitudes of potential voters toward a particular candidate, you will have to decide which attitudes are important for the topic at hand: attitudes about the particular positions the candidate holds, attitudes about the candidate’s personality, or attitudes about the candidate’s likability. The more clearly formulated and precise the research question, the more easily the actual questions can be written and the questionnaire designed. The process of trying to write specific questions for a survey helps clarify the research question. When there are ambiguities in
THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF QUESTION ASKING 21 question wording or alternative ways of wording questions, decisions about formulating questions must be consistent with the original purposes of the survey. Often the purposes themselves may not be very clear and must be further refined before a final choice can be made. For instance, if you were conducting a survey with the purpose of deciding whether a potential candidate should run for a particular office, you might be interested in how much respondents know about the person, what political views they identify with that person, and what they are looking for in a good candidate. In contrast, if you were conducting a survey for a candidate who had already declared her intention to run for office, you might be more interested in what respondents think about the candidate’s stand on particular issues and whether they intend to vote for that candidate. Writing Questions that Relate to the Purpose of the Study Even when surveys are being conducted on the same topic, very different questions might be asked depending on the specific purpose of the study. For example, most surveys ask about the educational level of the respondent. If, for the purposes of your survey, a grouping of respondents into three or four levels of education will suffice, then a simple question like “What is the highest grade you completed in school?” with three or four response categories may well serve the purpose. If, however, the purposes of your survey require that the educational level of the population be precisely estimated, you would need considerably more detail about education—making distinctions, for example, between degrees granted and years of education started but not completed. Because the way in which questions are asked is intimately tied to the purposes of the survey, there is no “standard” way to ask about personal characteristics, such as education and income. (See the discussion in Chapter Nine.) As a general rule, when constructing a questionnaire, you must continuously ask “Why am I asking this question?” and must, in each instance, be able to explain how the question is closely related to the research question that underlies the survey. Our training as
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Page 6 and 7: Norman M. Bradburn Seymour Sudman B
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Page 10 and 11: viii CONTENTS 12. Asking Questions
Page 13 and 14: Preface This book is a revised and
Page 15 and 16: PREFACE xiii trate some of the subt
Page 17 and 18: The Authors Norman M. Bradburn (Ph.
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Page 23 and 24: Chapter One The Social Context of Q
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ASKING NONTHREATENING QUESTIONS ABO
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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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Chapter Ten Organizing and Designin
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ORGANIZING AND DESIGNING QUESTIONNA
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Fill- Ins Easily done with a Possib
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Chapter Eleven Questionnaires from
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QUESTIONNAIRES FROM START TO FINISH
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Chapter Twelve Asking Questions FAQ
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 325 tain you
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Do you own an IBM-type of PC? Yes
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 329 Ranking q
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 331 guish bet
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ASKING QUESTIONS FAQS 333 activitie
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336 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RECOMMENDED RE
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348 GLOSSARY object. The term belie
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350 GLOSSARY are entered directly i
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352 GLOSSARY the sex of the respond
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354 GLOSSARY of an IBM card is a on
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356 GLOSSARY individual difference
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358 GLOSSARY overreporting, underre
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360 GLOSSARY because of illness or
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362 GLOSSARY response effect A gene
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364 GLOSSARY questionnaires list th
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Index A Ability, measuring, 197-202
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INDEX 369 Denver, 86; Community che
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INDEX 371 Library card ownership, 8
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INDEX 373 preferences, 167-168; thr
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Appendix A List of Academic and Not
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APPENDIX A 377 Phoenix, AZ 85003-17
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APPENDIX A 379 Fax: 310-206-4453 E-
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APPENDIX A 381 800 Florida Ave., N.
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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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