Asking questions
A vignette question is one that asks respondents to think about:
Family obligations to care for sick relatives
An intensely painful and sensitive issue in their personal life
A scenario involving imaginary characters in a realistic situation
Their favourite kind of salad dressing
A scenario involving imaginary characters in a realistic situation
A vignette is like a piece of a story, where a family situation might be depicted at a decision point. These are often referred to as ‘scenarios’, which are fictitious, but attempt to portray real decisions in the life of real people. Most ‘soap operas’ are based around this technique, where we wonder from week to week what the characters will decide, and where real fans are at least tempted to offer their advice. In an interview setting, the respondent is shown one of these scenarios and asked for their opinion of the best course of action to be recommended from a fixed list of possibilities. In this way, the vignette question can be seen as another example of a closed question. Answers (a), (b) and possibly (d) in a surrealistic way, may be seen as potential elements of a scenario, but the vignette question is representative of technique rather than content.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 259,260
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 259,260
A scenario involving imaginary characters in a realistic situation A vignette is like a piece of a story, where a family situation might be depicted at a decision point. These are often referred to as ‘scenarios’, which are fictitious, but attempt to portray real decisions in the life of real people. Most ‘soap operas’ are based around this technique, where we wonder from week to week what the characters will decide, and where real fans are at least tempted to offer their advice. In an interview setting, the respondent is shown one of these scenarios and asked for their opinion of the best course of action to be recommended from a fixed list of possibilities. In this way, the vignette question can be seen as another example of a closed question. Answers (a), (b) and possibly (d) in a surrealistic way, may be seen as potential elements of a scenario, but the vignette question is representative of technique rather than content.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 259,260
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 259,260
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Which of the following is a general rule of thumb for designing questions?A. Always bear in mind your research questions
B. Never ask a closed question
C. Always use vignettes rather than open questions
D. Use ambiguous terms to put respondents at ease
You should avoid using double-barrelled questions in a survey because:
A. They rely too much on a respondent’s memory
B. They make the questions too long, so respondents lose interest
C. They are too abstract and general in scope
D. They confuse respondents by asking about two different things
Informant factual questions are those that:
A. Enquire about personal details such as age, income and occupation
B. Ask people about the characteristics of a social setting or entity that they know well
C. Seek to find out about people’s attitudes and opinions on a range of topics
D. Try to identify the normative standards and values held by a social group
Which of the following is not an advantage of using closed questions in a survey?
A. It reduces the risk of variability in the way answers are recorded
B. It makes answers easier to process and analyse
C. They prevent respondents from giving spontaneous, unexpected answers
D. Closed questions are quicker and easier for respondents to complete
The UK Data Archive is a useful resource for:
A. Studying the way questions have been successfully used in previous surveys
B. Stealing other people’s questions without their permission
C. Learning more about your topic so that you can devise leading questions
D. Keeping your research questions in a safe place
In order to post-code answers to open questions, it is necessary to:
A. Count the frequency with which each answer has been given
B. Categorize unstructured material and assign a code number to each category
C. Identify the three most commonly cited responses and give them a code
D. Find out where each respondent lives and make a note of their postcode
Leading questions should also be avoided because:
A. They suggest ways of answering and so may bias the results
B. They create a mismatch between the question and its possible answers
C. They involve negative terms and unnecessary jargon
D. They ask about several different things at the same time
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