Chapter Nine. Survey Research
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.