GUIDELINES FOR ASKING QUESTIONS
    Choose Appropriate Question Forms
    Make Items Clear
    Avoid Double-Barreled Questions
    Respondents Must Be Competent to Answer
    Respondents Must Be Willing to Answer
    Questions Should Be Relevant
    Short Items Are Best
    Avoid Negative Items
    Avoid Biased Items and Terms

    A key element in survey research is a standardized set of questions--called a questionnaire--which is administered to the sample subjects.  While questionnaires are often used in other forms of research, such as experiments, they are essential to survey research.

    It is important, therefore, to create questions that will measure the variables we are interested in observing and understanding.  This discussion, then, is a continuing of the topics of conceptualization and operationalization, begun in Chapter 5 of the book.

    This section presents several guidelines for asking good questions.