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

38 ASKING QUESTIONS
These questions represent the work of professional questionnaire
designers. All have undergone careful review and pretesting. Nevertheless,
they are not immune from the memory and other problems
that we discuss later in this chapter.
Outdoor Recreational Activities
Figure 2.1 illustrates a series of questions about outdoor recreational
activities. Part 1, which asks only whether the respondent
ever did an activity during the last twelve months, is considerably
easier to answer than Part 2, which asks for the number of times
the respondent participated. Limiting participation to that in the
State of Illinois makes the question still more complex. As we
shall discuss later in the chapter, it is highly likely that respondents
who frequently engage in an activity will not count individual
episodes but will estimate. The period for activities is
extended to a year because many of these activities are seasonal;
a survey conducted in the winter would get no data on summer
sports.
Jogging
There are several interesting wording uses in the Gallup question
on jogging, shown in Figure 2.2. The use of the words “happen to”
in the question “Do you happen to jog, or not?” is intended to
reduce or eliminate social desirability biases. Although jogging
appears to be a nonthreatening topic, some respondents who do not
jog might be tempted to report that they did, because jogging is
popular and associated with health and fitness. Similarly, adding the
words “or not” is intended to give equal weight to both the positive
and the negative answer. Although the responses to this question
from the 1996 Gallup Poll might not differ substantially from those
to the simpler question “Do you jog?” the additional words are
intended to ensure the accuracy of the results.