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

52 ASKING QUESTIONS
should not be summarily omitted because precise information cannot
be obtained; ballpark information can sometimes be very valuable.
On the other hand, analysts should avoid making precise
analyses of such loose questions. It is a serious but unfortunately
common error to use powerful multivariate procedures carried to
three decimal points with questions where even the first significant
figure is in doubt.
Consumer Expenditure Survey
Shown as Figure 2.10 are questions on ownership and purchasing of
major household equipment items. (Only the first page is shown.)
This was a panel study, and these questions were asked twice, one
year apart. Asking questions at two different time periods has the
major advantage of reducing error in the date of purchase, by a procedure
called bounded recall. (Bounded recall will be discussed in
greater detail later.) Note also that the accuracy of reports about
ownership is increased because the interviewer and the respondent
have the opportunity to examine both furniture and appliances. On
this survey and on similar surveys, researchers are not interested
merely in ownership or possession but in information more difficult
to recall, such as that involving brand and price.
How to Tell if a Question Is Threatening
There is no standard method to determine whether a question is
threatening or not. Some questions that are not threatening in
general may be threatening to particular individuals for idiosyncratic
reasons; they might remind the respondent of a recent
painful event or they might be mistakenly interpreted as referring
to something that is unique to that individual. The best we can do
is determine whether a question is likely to be threatening to a
large number of respondents. The easiest way to determine the
threat of a question is to ask ourselves whether we believe respondents
will feel there is a right or wrong answer to it. Certain behav-