TeAM YYePG Digitally signed by TeAM YYePG DN: cn=TeAM YYePG, c=US, o=TeAM YYePG, ou=TeAM YYePG, email=yyepg@msn.com Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Date: 2005.02.05 00:26:34 +08'00' Asking Questions The Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design— For Market Research, Political Polls, and Social and Health Questionnaires, Revised Edition fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page v fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page i fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page ii Asking Questions fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page iii Norman M. Bradburn Seymour Sudman Brian Wansink fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page iv Asking Questions The Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design— For Market Research, Political Polls, and Social and Health Questionnaires, Revised Edition fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page v Copyright © 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741 www.josseybass.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the web Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, e-mail: permcoordinator@wiley.com. Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002. Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bradburn, Norman M. Asking questions : the definitive guide to questionnaire design—for market research, political polls, and social and health questionnaires / Norman M. Bradburn, Brian Wansink, Seymour Sudman.—Rev. ed. p. cm. Earlier ed. by Sudman and Bradburn with Sudman named first. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-7879-7088-3 (alk. paper) 1. Social sciences—Research. 2. Questionnaires. I. Wansink, Brian. II. Sudman, Seymour. III. Title. H62.B63 2004 300'.72'3—dc22 2004001683 Printed in the United States of America FIRST EDITION PB Printing 10987654321 fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page vi at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Contents Preface and Acknowledgments xi The Authors xv Part I. Strategies for Asking Questions 1. The Social Context of Question Asking 3 Part II. Tactics for Asking Questions 2. Asking Nonthreatening Questions About Behavior 35 3. Asking Threatening Questions About Behavior 79 4. Asking Questions About Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions 117 5. Asking and Recording Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions 151 6. Asking Questions that Measure Knowledge 179 7. Asking Questions that Evaluate Performance 213 8. Asking Psychographic Questions 243 9. Asking Standard Demographic Questions 261 Part III. Drafting and Crafting the Questionnaire 10. Organizing and Designing Questionnaires 283 11. Questionnaires from Start to Finish 315 vii fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page vii 12. Asking Questions FAQs 323 Bibliography and Recommended Readings 335 Glossary 347 Index 367 Appendix A: List of Academic and Not-for-Profit Survey Research Organizations 375 Appendix B: Illinois Liquor Control Commission: College Student Survey 411 Appendix C: Faculty Retention Survey 417 Appendix D: Kinko’s: Open-ended Service Satisfaction Survey 425 viii C ONTENTS fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page viii [...]... very difficult to understand, and it is not clear what the investigators were trying to find out The Nuances of Politically Charged Issues Yet even when there are no deliberate efforts to bias the question, it is often difficult to write good questions because the words to describe the phenomenon being studied may be politically charged The terms used to describe the area of concern may be so politically... falsify their answers Unlike the job applicant or the patient answering a doctor’s questions, respondents have nothing tangible to gain THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF QUESTION ASKING 9 from the interview Their only reward is some measure of psychic gratification—such as the opportunity to state their opinions or relate their experiences to a sympathetic and nonjudgmental listener, the chance to contribute to public... Second, the right of privacy with regard to information refers to people’s right to control data about themselves that they reveal to others They can certainly be asked to reveal data about themselves that may be highly sensitive, but they have the right to control whether they voluntarily answer the question There is no presumption of secrecy about a person’s activities and beliefs Rather, people have the. .. compensate for the lack of interaction, the self-administered questionnaire, whether paper -and- pencil or electronic, must depend entirely on the questions and written instructions to elicit accurate responses and motivate the respondent to participate in the study The interviewer does not have the opportunity to encourage or clarify, as would be possible in a face -to- face interview and to some extent... that are relevant to the topic of the ongoing conversation The maxim of quantity enjoins speakers to make what they say as informative as possible and not to be repetitive The maxim of manner requires speakers to be clear rather than ambiguous or obscure If the questionnaire makes it difficult for respondents to follow these maxims, an uncomfortable interaction between the interviewer and respondent can... related to food choice and consumption (www.FoodPsychology com) Prior to moving to Illinois, he was a marketing professor at Dartmouth College and at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania He coauthored Consumer Panels with Seymour Sudman Asking Questions Part One Strategies for Asking Questions Chapter One The Social Context of Question Asking The precise wording of questions plays a vital... important in obtaining the interview In addition, the questionnaire plays a major role in making the experience enjoyable and in motivating the respondent to answer the questions A bad questionnaire, like an awkward conversation, can turn an initially pleasant situation into a boring or frustrating experience Above and beyond concern for the best phrasing of the particular questions, you the questionnaire designer—must... motivated to be “good people.” That is, they will try to represent themselves to the interviewer in a way that reflects well on them Social desirability bias is a significant problem in survey research This is especially the case when the questions deal with either socially desirable or socially undesirable behavior or attitudes If respondents have acted in ways or have attitudes that they feel are not the socially... sufficient information about what they are actually being asked and how their responses will be used The intent is for them to be able to judge whether unpleasant consequences will follow as a result of their disclosure The assumption is that people asked to reveal something about themselves can respond intelligently only if they know the probable consequences of their doing so The standards by which procedures... important to survey researchers the right to privacy, informed consent, and confidentiality of data Part II is devoted to tactics for asking questions In Chapters Two through Nine we consider the major issues in formulating questions on different topics, such as the differences between requirements for questions about behavior and for questions about attitudes We also consider how to ask questions dealing . Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bradburn, Norman M. Asking questions : the definitive guide to questionnaire design—for market research, political polls, and social and health questionnaires / Norman M. Bradburn,. Wansink fm.Bradburn 3/12/04 11:28 AM Page iv Asking Questions The Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design— For Market Research, Political Polls, and Social and Health Questionnaires, Revised Edition fm.Bradburn. attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Date: 2005.02.05 00:26:34 +08'00' Asking Questions The Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design— For Market Research, Political Polls,