Asking questions
You should avoid using double-barrelled questions in a survey because:
They rely too much on a respondent’s memory
They make the questions too long, so respondents lose interest
They are too abstract and general in scope
They confuse respondents by asking about two different things
They confuse respondents by asking about two different things
The problem here is that we may tend to see concepts as virtual synonyms of each other, like “pay” and “conditions of “work”. It is not so much that we might think they are the same but that they might lead together to “job satisfaction”, say. Consequently, we may pose a question like Bryman’s on page 253: “How satisfied are you with pay and conditions in your job?” The author points out that the respondent may well be satisfied with one but not the other and so is unsure of how to reply. Questions should not be overlong, it is true, nor should they be too abstract, but the problems with ‘double-barrelled’ questions are not these, but with the creation of ambiguity and uncertainty on the part of the respondent.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 253
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 253
They confuse respondents by asking about two different things The problem here is that we may tend to see concepts as virtual synonyms of each other, like “pay” and “conditions of “work”. It is not so much that we might think they are the same but that they might lead together to “job satisfaction”, say. Consequently, we may pose a question like Bryman’s on page 253: “How satisfied are you with pay and conditions in your job?” The author points out that the respondent may well be satisfied with one but not the other and so is unsure of how to reply. Questions should not be overlong, it is true, nor should they be too abstract, but the problems with ‘double-barrelled’ questions are not these, but with the creation of ambiguity and uncertainty on the part of the respondent.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 253
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 253
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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
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
An open question is one that:
A. Allows respondents to answer in their own terms
B. Does not suggest or provide a limited range of responses
C. Can help to generate answers for closed questions
D. All of the above
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