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

ASKING NONTHREATENING QUESTIONS ABOUT BEHAVIOR 47
send the questionnaire ahead by mail, so that necessary information
may be collected, but to obtain the final answers in a personal interview
so that ambiguous answers can be clarified. This survey uses
specialized language such as “sole practitioner,” “partner,” “associate,”
and “paralegals.” The specialized language causes the lawyer
respondents no difficulty, although these are not meaningful terms
to most non-lawyers.
Farm Innovation Study
The same use of specialized language is seen in Figure 2.8, dealing
with farm practices (SRL, 1974). Again, these terms did not cause
the surveyed farmers any serious difficulties. The most problematic
questions in this series are those asking “How many years ago did
you first do (have) this?” Farmers who have been following these
practices for many years will have trouble remembering the beginning
date unless it corresponds to an important anchor point, such
as the year the respondent started farming this particular land. It
should be possible, however, to distinguish between farmers who
adopted a practice in the last year or two and those who adopted it
more than ten years ago.
Business Expenditures
Sometimes the questions ask for more specificity than respondents
can provide. Figure 2.9 gives such an example from the
1997 Economic Census. In the survey used to generate this form,
the representative of a hotel was asked to report sales for detailed
merchandise and receipt lines, such as for distilled spirits, wine,
and beer and ale. Many hotels do not keep records at this level of
detail and are unable to report this information, even though estimation
is permitted.
Both the questionnaire writer and the data analyst (if these are
not the same person) must take a balanced view to questions that
put such a substantial strain on the respondent’s memory or records,
even when the results are aggregated. On the one hand, questions