Chapter 7
Focus group
An interview with a group of 6 to 10 individuals brought together for a period of usually 2-3 hours. -Can explore any topic -Primarily used in industry -Since it is time consuming and expensive, participants usually receive some type of compensation
Negative wording
Avoid phrasing with negative words -Agreement with question means disagreement with the proposal -Thus, results in confusion and inaccurate answers from respondents
Survey as a conversation
-Order survey questions in a way that would follow the natural progression of topics in a conversation with someone you just met
Survey lifebar
-Respondents have a lifebar when it comes to survey -Each question asked brings down their lifebar; short questions bring down a bit, long questions bring down a lot -Structure survey around selected respondents lifebar so they do not get tired and bored and start to give inaccurate answers
Dillman's survey principles
-Simplicity -Use complete sentences to ask questions -Avoid specificity that exceeds potential for having a ready made answer -Use equal number of positive and negative categories for scalar questions -Use response categories that are mutually exclusive -Avoid questions that ask respondents to make unnecessary calculations
Face to face interviews
Interview between the researcher and the respondent -Tend to be expensive and time-consuming, therefore they are best utilized when the sample size is fairly small and there are clear benefits to a face-to-face interaction
Double barreled questions
Questions that ask respondents to answer two questions at once
Loaded questions
Questions that include emotionally charged words -Might sway respondents answer -If such words are unavoidable, soften the blow with instructions or previous questions
Open-ended questions
Questions where the respondents are free to answer in any way they like -Most useful when researcher needs to know what people are thinking and how they naturally view their world -However, less structure and therefore require more time and resources to categorize and code the responses
Closed ended questions
Questions where there are only a limited number of response alternatives can be given -A more structured approach, they are easier to code and the response alternatives are the same for everyone.
Graphic rating scale
Response which requires a mark along a continuous 100mm line that is anchored with descriptions at each end.