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MISUNDERSTANDING STANDARDIZED LANGUAGE

INRESEARCH INTERVIEWS

AUTHORS: MICHAEL F. SCHOBER, FREDERICK G. CONRADAND SCOTT S. FRICKER

PRESENTED BY: FATIMA NAFIE, ELIANA ZAMBLERA

ANNO A.A. 2015/2016

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PREROGATIVES OF THE ARTICLE

• LEAVING THE INTERPRETATION OF WORDS UP TO PARTICIPANTS IN STANDARDIZED SURVEY INTERVIEWS, APTITUDE TESTS, AND EXPERIMENT INSTRUCTIONS CAN LEAD TO UNINTENDED INTERPRETATION;

• MORE COLLABORATIVE INTERVIEWING METHODS CAN PROMOTE UNIFORM UNDERSTANDING.

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IN TWO LABORATORY STUDIES, WE’RE GOING TO SEE THAT COMPREHENSION WAS MORE ACCURATE WHEN INTERVIEWERS RESPONDED TO REQUESTS FOR CLARIFICATION WITH NON-STANDARDIZED PARAPHARASED DEFINITIONS, AND MOST ACCURATE WHEN INTERVIEWERS ALSO PROVIDED CLARIFICATION WHENEVER THEY SUSPECTED RESPONDENTS NEEDED IT.

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REDUCING THE BIAS

IN ORDER TO REDUCE THE BIAS AND PROMOTE COMPARABILITY OF RESPONSES, PSYCHOLOGISTS STANDARDIZE THE MATERIALS THEY USE: THEY EXPOSE ALL RESPONDENTS AND SUBJECTS TO EXACTLY THE SAME WORDS. THEY ALSO REQUIRE PARTICIPANTS TO INTERPRET THOSE WORDS FOR THEMSELVES, SO THAT RESEARCHERS WILL NOT INFLUENCE RESPONSES.

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PROBLEM

STANDARDIZING WORDING AND LEAVING THE INTERPRETATION UP TO THE AUDIENCE CAN BE PROBLEMATIC DUE TO THE OVERRELIANCE ON STANDARDIZED WORDING. THE ARGUMENT IS THAT DIFFERENT LISTENERS, READERS OR USERS CAN INTERPRET THE SAME WORDS QUITE DIFFERENTLY, AND SO STANDARDIZED WORDING MAY ACTUALLY DECREASE UNIFORMITY OF INTERPRETATION.

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FINDING SOLUTIONS

A GOOD SOLUTION COULD BE TO COLLABORATE WITH RESPONDENTS, SAYING WHATEVER IT TAKES TO ENSURE THAT THE ADDRESSEE HAS UNDERSTOOD THE WORDS AS INTENDED. PARADOXICALLY, IN ORDER TO STANDARDIZE INTERPRETATION, SPEAKERS MAY NEED TO FOLLOW NON-STANDARDIZED ‘CONVERSATIONAL’ PRACTICE, CLARIFYING WHAT THEIR WORDS MEAN (WHEN ADDRESSEES ASK FOR HELP OR SEEM TO NEED IT).

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• STRICTLY STANDARDIZED INTERVIEWING LEADS TO POOR COMPREHENSION;

• LESS STRICTLY STANDARDIZED METHODS CAN LEAD TO IMPROVED COMPREHENSION.

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CASE STUDY 1

IN THIS EXPERIMENT INTERVIEWERS PROVIDED: • NO CLARIFICATION; • CLARIFICATION ONLY WHEN RESPONDENTS REQUESTED IT (RESPONDENT-

INITIATED CLARIFICATION);• CLARIFICATION BOTH WHEN RESPONDENTS REQUESTED IT AND WHENEVER

ELSE THEY BELIEVED RESPONDENTS NEEDED IT (MIXED-INITIATIVE CLARIFICATION).

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PARTECIPANTS• 55 PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEWERS;

• 109 RESPONDENTS: THEY HAD RESPONDED TO AN AD IN ‘THE WASHINGTON POST’. THEY RAPRESENTED A RANGE OF DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS.

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METHOD

SOME INTERVIEWERS WERE TRAINED TO READ SCRIPTED DEFINITIONS VERBATIM, AND OTHERS WERE ALLOWED TO PARAPHRASE THE DEFINITIONS. RESPONDENTS ANSWERED ON THE BASIS OF FICTIONAL SCENARIOS, SO THAT THEY COULD ASSESS RESPONSE ACCURACY. THE SCENARIOS WERE DESIGNED IN EITHER A STRAIGHTFORWARD OR COMPLICATED WAY TO MAP ONTO THE SURVEY QUESTIONS.

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ALL RESPONDENTS WERE ASKED THE SAME 12 QUESTIONS FROM ONGOING U.S. GOVERNMENT SURVEYS (4 ABOUT EMPLOYMENT, 4 ABOUT HOUSING, 4 ABOUT PURCHASES). FOR EACH RESPONDENT, 6 SCENARIOS DESCRIBED SITUATIONS THAT MAPPED ONTO QUESTIONS IN A STRAIGHTFORWARD WAY, AND 6 SCENARIOS DESCRIBED SITUATIONS THAT MAPPED ONTO QUESTIONS IN A COMPLICATED WAY. DIFFERENT RESPONDENT SAW DIFFERENT SCENARIOS FOR DIFFERENT QUESTIONS: THE ORDERING OF THE MAPPINGS WAS COUNTERBALANCED ACROSS RESPONDENTS.

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• RESPONDENTS COMPREHENDED THE SURVEY QUESTIONS MORE ACCURATELY WHEN THEY COULD RECEIVE CLARIFICATION THAN WHEN THE INTERPRETATION WAS LEFT UP TO THEM;

• RESPONDENTS COMPREHENSION FOR STRAIGHTFORWARD SCENARIOS WAS EXCELLENT;

• RESPONSES WERE MARGINALLY BETTER WHEN INTERVIEWERS USED THEIR OWN WORDS TO CLARIFY QUESTION MEANING RATHER THAN READING SCRIPTED DEFINITIONS.

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CASE STUDY 2

THEY ASKED A SMALL SAMPLE OF INTERVIEWERS FROM THE MAINSTREAM SURVEY ORGANIZATION USED IN STUDY 1 TO CARRY OUT AS THEY ORDINARY DO. RESPONDENTS ANSWERED THE SAME QUESTIONS FROM ONGOING SURVEYS USED IN STUDY ON THE BASIS OF THE SAME FICTIONAL SCENARIOS.

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• AS IN STUDY 1, RESPONDENTS’ ANSWERS MATCHED THE OFFICIAL DEFINITIONS VIRTUALLY PERFECTLY FOR STRAIGHTFORWARD MAPPINGS.

• A MORE DETAILED EXAMINATION OF COMPREHENSION ACCURACY SHOWS THAT INTERVIEWER DEVIATIONS FROM STRICT STANDARDIZATION LED TO SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN ACCURACY.

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COMPREHENSION ACCURACY CAN IMPROVE SUBSTANTIALLY WHEN INTERVIEWERS DEVIATE FROM STRICT STANDARDIZATION.

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CONCLUSIONS

• WHAT INTERVIEWERS DO AFTER THEY READ THE QUESTIONS IN STANDARDIZED SURVEYS ABOUT FACTS AND BEHAVIORS CAN DRASTICALLY AFFECT WHETHER RESPONDENTS UNDERSTAND QUESTION CONCEPTS AS THE SURVEY DESIGNERS INTEND.

• TRAINING INTERVIEWERS TO INITIATE CLARIFICATION WHENEVER THEY FEEL IT IS NECESSARY, RATHER THAN RELYING ON RESPONDENTS TO ASK FOR CLARIFICATION, PROMOTES THE MOST ACCURATE RESPONDENT COMPREHENSION.

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