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

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ASKING NONTHREATENING QUESTIONS ABOUT BEHAVIOR 45<br />

synagogue is a deliberate event and does not just happen. <strong>The</strong> same<br />

question asked in the General Social Survey simply asks, ”Are you,<br />

yourself a member of a church or synagogue?”<br />

Readers may wonder whether religion is a sensitive topic. For<br />

several decades the U.S. Census and other government sample surveys<br />

have not asked about religion because of concerns about the<br />

separation between church and state. Nevertheless, nongovernmental<br />

survey organizations have uniformly found that religion is<br />

not a sensitive topic and that reports of religious behavior are easy<br />

to obtain. In behavior questions the word you may often be confusing,<br />

since it may refer to the respondent or to all the members of the<br />

household. <strong>To</strong> avoid this confusion, use of “you, yourself” is often<br />

helpful when there may be ambiguity.<br />

Figure 2.6. <strong>Questions</strong> on Religion.<br />

A. Do you happen to be a member of a church or synagogue, or not?<br />

Member<br />

Not a member (Skip to Q. 2)<br />

B. Did you, yourself, happen to attend church or synagogue in the last<br />

seven days?<br />

Yes<br />

No<br />

Source: Gallup, 2001.<br />

Lawyers’ Survey<br />

Special problems arise in non-household surveys. <strong>The</strong> lawyers’ survey<br />

(Figure 2.7) was conducted by mail. This may well be an advantage<br />

for questions such as 3B and 3C, which ask for information on<br />

number of attorneys and other employees in the firm.<br />

In large firms the respondent would probably not have this<br />

information at hand and would need to spend a little time getting<br />

the count. Many business surveys are done by mail, so that respondents<br />

have a chance to collect the information. An alternative is to

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