Chapter 9

questionnaire

A document that contains questions and other types of items that are designed to solicit information appropriate for analysis.

D) all of these.

In order to avoid measurement error in a questionnaire, it is a good idea to A) use unbiased wording. B) use terms that subjects will understand. C) test out the instrument in a dry run with a few people in the target population D) all of these.

False

T/F An interview guide is a highly structured approach for conducting quantitative interviews.

D) Avoid negative items.

The questionnaire item "Which is not a serious problem in the U.S. today, anomie or the socialization of the young?" violates which of the following guidelines? A) Avoid double-barreled questions. B) Avoid short items. C) Avoid leading the respondent. D) Avoid negative items.

contingency question

A question asked only of some respondents, depending on their response to some other question.

probe

A technique for soliciting in a nondirective and unbiased manner a more complete answer to a question.

Likert scale

A type of measure that presents respondents with statements followed by response choices so that respondents can indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement with each statement.

D) Avoid double-barreled questions and questions should be relevant.

Asking subjects â Did your children go to high school and college?â after they told you that they have no children violates which of the following criteria in question construction? A) Avoid double-barreled questions. B) Questions should be relevant. C) Avoid biased items. D) Avoid double-barreled questions and questions should be relevant.

E) All of these are equally good probes.

Assume that the following would be reasonable conversational questions/statements based on a subject's previous statement. Which is the best probe? A) "In what ways is that a better job?" B) "How is that a better job?" C) "Tell me more about why that's a better job." D) "How do you mean that's a better job?" E) All of these are equally good probes.

A) Are used to increase the likelihood of responses from those for whom the questions are relevant.

Contingency questions: A) Are used to increase the likelihood of responses from those for whom the questions are relevant. B) Should not be used because they frustrate respondents. C) Enable the researcher to ask several questions that have the same set of answer categories. D) All of these.

1. Make items clear- questionnaire items need to be clear and unambiguous, they need to be understandable and precise 2. Avoid double barreled questions- do not include combination questions that look for a single answer, should avoid the word and thats a sign it is double barreled 3. Respondents must be willing to answer- be aware of sensitive areas in which respondents may not be willing to share the information 4. Questions should be relevent- questions should be relevant to most of the respondents, if it is not it can effect the results 5. Avoid negative terms- use of negation within questions can lead to misinterpretation, many will read over the use of "not" affecting results

Eleven options for creating good questionnaires are described in the chapter. Select five of them and explain them.

Patton identified three forms of qualitative, open-ended interviewing paths: informal conversational interview, general interview guide approach, and standardized open-ended interview. Informal conversational interviewing is an interview that is unplanned/unanticipated between interviewer and respondent that occurs naturally throughout observation. The general interview guide approach are interviews that are more structured and require a measurement instrument. A standardized open-ended interview approach is similar to that of the general interview guide approach, however, the interviews are conducted in a consistent manner with little effects and biases.

Explain (do not simply list) the three forms of qualitative, open-ended interviewing according to Patton. (See pp. 168~171.)

E) none of these

Professor Milne was preparing to do some unstructured qualitative interviewing. Milne knew that you were a research-methods student and asked for your advice. You told Milne A) to try not to alter the specific wording of questions. B) to try to use the same probes with the same wording for each respondent. C) to try not to alter the sequence of questions. D) all of these. E) none of these

D) all of these.

Respondents would not be competent to answer a question if they: A) did not remember the relevant information. B) did not know about the relevant information in the first place. C) have psychological or biological impairments D) all of these.

False

T/F Open-ended qualitative interviews never use standardized interview schedules.

True

T/F Scales include multiple items that can be summed to measure a variable.

True

T/F The following answer categories about gender are mutually exclusive: Male ________ Female ______

True

T/F The following exemplifies an improper way to ask a question: "Are you satisfied with this textbook and with your research instructor's teaching style?

False

T/F The length of a question has no bearing on how effectively the respondent will answer.

False

T/FThere are no commonalities between quantitative and qualitative approaches to instrument construction

C) a double-barreled question.

The questionnaire item "Did you file federal and state income tax reports last year?" with a response set of yes, no, can't remember, other, is an example of A) an open-ended question. B) an ordinal variable. C) a double-barreled question. D) a negative item.

A) mutually exclusive.

When the variable â religious affiliationâ is classified as Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish, this variable has the important quality of being A) mutually exclusive. B) exhaustive. C) interchangeable. D) ratio scale.

C) Researchers should attempt to estimate the effect of question order and use their judgment so as to minimize any order problems

Which of the following statements is true regarding the order in which items appear in a questionnaire? A) The order should be random. B) The order does not matter. C) Researchers should attempt to estimate the effect of question order and use their judgment so as to minimize any order problems D) The order can be random because it does not matter.

A) Closed-ended questions should limit respondents to three or four choices.

Which of the following statements is(are) INCORRECT? A) Closed-ended questions should limit respondents to three or four choices. B) Closed-ended questions should have response categories that are mutually exclusive and exhaustive. C) Closed-ended questions should cover the range of likely responses. D) None of these; they are all correct.

F) All of these.

Which of the following statements is/are true about comparing quantitative and qualitative instrument construction? A) Both approaches should avoid biased wording. B) Both approaches should avoid questions that are very complex. C) Quantitative measures are likely to be more highly structured. D) Quantitative measures are likely to use close-ended questions. E) Qualitative measures are likely to rely primarily on interviews. F) All of these.

C) Interviews can range from completely unstructured, informal conversational interviews that use no measurement instruments to highly structured, standardized interviews in which interviewers must ask questions in the exact order and with the exact wording in which they are written out in advance.

Which of the following statements is/are true about constructing qualitative measures? A) You should rely primarily on close-ended questions. B) Highly structured self-administered questionnaires are more desirable than interview guides. C) Interviews can range from completely unstructured, informal conversational interviews that use no measurement instruments to highly structured, standardized interviews in which interviewers must ask questions in the exact order and with the exact wording in which they are written out in advance. D) All of these.

A) They are often unplanned and unanticipated.

Which of the following statements is/are true about informal conversational interviews? A) They are often unplanned and unanticipated. B) They are the most close-ended form of interviewing. C) They require the use of a structured measurement instrument. D) Because they are informal, there is less need to be concerned about how questions are worded. E) All of these.

B) Because it is virtually impossible to avoid some mistakes in wording, questionnaires should be pretested in a dry run.

Which of the following statements is/are true about questionnaires? A) Researchers can avoid the need for pretesting if they are very careful in the way they word questions. B) Because it is virtually impossible to avoid some mistakes in wording, questionnaires should be pretested in a dry run. C) When pretesting, the pretest sample should be very large. D) When pretesting your questionnaire, it's better to ask people to read through it looking for errors rather than to complete the questionnaire.