8 Survey Research

Question 1

Survey

Answer 1

Systematic questionnaire or interview procedures

Question 2

Flexibility

Answer 2

can address almost any topic, except extremely sensitive topics

Question 3

Superficiality

Answer 3

hard to go into real depth of any topic, simply a starting point

Question 4

Simple questions

Answer 4

use a concrete indicator, ex. age in years

Question 5

Likert style questions

Answer 5

used for measuring simple attitudes, beliefs, emotions, or behaviours (i.e. When you think back to your high school years, you feel: 1. Very unhappy 2. Somewhat unhappy 3. Don’t feel anything 4. Happy 5. Very happy)

Question 6

Guttman scales

Answer 6

useful for measuring the strength or intensity of an attitude

Question 7

Paired comparisons

Answer 7

you present items two at a time, and ask respondent to pick which one has more of some attribute

Question 8

Open-ended questions

Answer 8

allow for free responses, qualitative

Question 9

Closed response set

Answer 9

those questions which have fixed categories for answers, quantitative

Question 10

Filter questions

Answer 10

useful for sorting respondents at the start of survey

Question 11

Contingency questions

Answer 11

allow respondents to skip portions of the survey that may not be relevant to them

Question 12

Double-barrelled question

Answer 12

asking about two things at the same time, split into 2 qs

Question 13

Threatening questions

Answer 13

people under-report illness, disability, deviance, illegal activity, income/wealth, so you should create “enhanced questions” or embed activity in list of more serious activities

Question 14

Social desirability bias

Answer 14

People tend to over-report socially desirable behaviours (being cultured, voting, giving to charity, being good spouses or parents, etc.), so you should try to minimize importance of these activities or present alternatives in questions