CHAPTER 4: Surveys and Interviews Flashcards
Use a way of obtaining information about people’s opinions, attitudes, preferences, and behaviors simply by asking.
- Allows us to gather data about experiences feelings thoughts, and
motives, that are hard to observe directly
Survey
questionnaires are tools, while interviews are the means of communicating the various items in the
questionnaire.
Questionnaire
is a research project all by itself, with steps that need to be followed to ensure that valid information is gathered and that the questions are really asking what the researcher intended to ask.
Constructing Survey
must be answered by one of a limited number of alternatives. This is the easiest to quantify.
(e.g. Do you smoke?, On a scale of 1-10 how much do you like Taylor Swift?)
Closed Questions (structured)
solicit opinions and feelings by asking the questions in such a way that the person must respond with more than a “yes or no”. It describes verbatimly.
(e.g. Why do you prefer detergent over liquid?) .
Open-ended Questions
quantifying answers to open questions must be designed to evaluate and categorize the content of each answer.
Content Analysis
ask responses about two (or more) different ideas in the same question which should be avoided.
(e.g. Do you like strawberries and cream? (vice versa) that prevents you from answering the question.
Double-Barreled Question
they contain emotion-laden words, being radical or racist should be avoided.
(e.g. What can you say about the “Black people ‘’ terror attack on the “whites’ in Wisconsin?, Most people favor the use of reproductive pills. What do you think?)
- To avoid bias, it is better to mention all possible alternatives or to mention none.
Leading or Loaded Questions
starting from the most general questions and moving towards the most specific questions pertaining to a given topic. This is also good in qualitative research.
Funnel Questions
general questions asked to respondents to find out whether they need to be asked more specific questions.
- If the answer is NO, the interviewer should not ask the specific questions.
Filter Questions
creating open-ended questions requires the subject to answer in a narrative form rather than selective from the choice or responses.
Measuring Responses
scale used to measure responses.
Level of Measurement
classifies response items into two or more distinct categories on the basis of some common features. (lowest level of measurement because it provides no info about magnitude).
- Either answer “True or False” but not both
Nominal Scale
rank ordering of response items. (Ranking of candidates of presidential polls, beauty contests, most popular , 2nd, 3rd and so forth.
Ordinal Scale
measures magnitude or quantitative size using measures of equal interval between values.
- No true zero point. Has intervals can go to negatives: -2,-1, 0, 1,2
Interval Scale
the highest level of measurement, and it has equal intervals between all values and a true zero point. Physical properties such as height, weight are characteristics whose quantity or magnitude can be measured using ratio scales.
Ratio Scale
are more powerful and preferred by researchers than those of nominal and ordinal.
Interval and Ratio data
may be regarded as traits, attitudes, and preferences that any individual could fall at any point along each dimension.
Continuous Dimension
subject do not have to think about a great deal (no open-ended questions)
Relevant to the Central topic
subjects are able to answer without saying “i don’t know”.
Easy to answer
subjects will think are relevant to the topic of the survey.
Interesting
tendency for subjects to respond to questions or test items in a specific way, regardless of the content.
Response Style
comes into play whenever questions require specific knowledge about facts or issues. When unsure, some will leave it blank or make a wild guess. Unwillingness to answer is the most often problem.
Willingness to answer
in multiple choice exam response style can influence the answer, when in doubt sometimes fall into the middle.
Position Preference
the plain meaning of the words that actually appear in the page.
Manifest Content
apt to agree with a question regardless of its manifest content. (Answer “YES or TRUE” items to most items)
Yea-sayers
tend to disagree no matter what they are asked. (Tend to say “NO or FALSE” to most items).
Nay-sayers
the position of the question - when it falls within the question order can influence how the question is interpreted.
Context Effect
Sometimes it helps to separate related items and questions unrelated to either of the related questions.
Buffer items
description of relatively permanent aspects of subjects or settings. (E.g. Determining the signs of homosexuality: SPO)
Static Checklist
records the presence or absence of specific behavior. (E.g. A classroom observer may note whether children are talking or indeed quiet.)
Action Checklist
permits only define responses.
Closed Form
allows respondents to make freewheeling responses.
Open Form
present open-ended questions that allow respondents in any way they wish. Has a high probability that the respondents will think more or authentic answer rather than choosing from a set of responses predetermined by the researcher.
Open-ended Format
presents questions followed by a set of options predetermined by the researcher based on a pre-survey. The format is extremely structured, easier to get responses and analyze data. Appropriate in situations where researchers know the full range of possible responses to their questions.
Multiple Choice
