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

58 ASKING QUESTIONS
Use Aided Recall
In its most general sense, an aided-recall procedure is one that provides
one or more memory cues to the respondent as part of the
question. The questions in Figure 2.1 illustrate one form of aided
recall. Rather than asking “What do you do for outdoor recreation?”
the questions focus on specific activities and sports. Another form
of this method is to put examples into the question, such as “How
many organizations do you belong to—for example, unions,
churches, fraternal organizations?”
Similarly, respondents may be shown a card containing a list of
books, magazines, and newspapers and asked which they have read
in the past month. Aided recall may also be used with knowledge
questions and with cards listing well-known persons, products, or
organizations. This use is discussed in Chapter Six.
A final form of aided recall is the household inventory conducted
jointly by the respondent and the interviewer. These household
inventories can be used to determine the presence of furniture,
appliances, books and magazines, and goods such as food, soap, and
cleaning products. Unless the product has been totally consumed,
its presence is a memory aid. Aided-recall procedures produce
higher levels of reported behavior than unaided procedures do
(Sudman and Bradburn, 1974), since they can help respondents
remember events that would otherwise be forgotten.
Precautions When Using Aided Recall. Certain precautions must
be observed, however, when aided recall is used. First, the list or
examples provided must be as exhaustive as possible. As shown in
general research on memory and in magazine readership and television
viewing studies, behaviors not mentioned in the question or
mentioned only as “Other (Specify)” will be substantially underreported
relative to items that are mentioned specifically.
If your questions concern media, products, and organizations,
lists are almost certainly available from published directories. For