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

ASKING NONTHREATENING QUESTIONS ABOUT BEHAVIOR 37
Periods of a month or less should be used for items with low
saliency, such as purchases of clothing and minor household
appliances. Periods that are too short, however, should be
avoided, since forward telescoping (remembering the event
as having occurred more recently than it did) can cause substantial
overreporting of behavior.
6. For regular, frequent behavior, respondents will estimate the
number of events by using the basic rate they have stored
in memory. Accuracy of these estimates can be improved by
asking about exceptions to respondents’ regular behavior.
7. The use of secondary records (where available), household
observation, and bounded recall will reduce or eliminate telescoping
and also improve the reporting of detailed information.
8. Where detailed information on frequent, low-salience behavior
is required, providing diaries will result in more accurate
results than memory.
9. Use words that virtually all respondents will understand.
Do not use special terms or vocabulary unless all members
of the sample would be expected to know them or the term
is explained in the question.
10. Increasing the length of the question by adding memory
cues may improve the quality of reporting. Do not assume
that the shorter questions are necessarily better.
11. Recognize that, for nonthreatening behavior, respondents will
generally give more accurate information about themselves
than about relatives, friends, or coworkers. If cost is a factor,
however, informants can provide reasonably accurate information
about others, such as parents about children, and spouses
about each other.
Ten Examples of Behavioral Questions
We start with examples of questions used by various government and
other survey agencies for collecting information about behavior.