1.Topic 3POLS2110Jan 28 & Feb 4Questionnaire design

2. Questionnaire design: ProcedurePOLS2110-T31. Types of questions2. Question wording3. Formatting Options4. As a whole: Cover letter, layout2 3. TypesPOLS2110-T31. Personal: Sex, age-group,2. Attitudinal: attitudes or opinions Agree / Support3. Behavioral: E.g., Did you cast a vote during the LegislativeCouncil 2008?4. Closed- and open-ended questions Reasons given vs. you give reasons Will you offer Others (reasons)?3 4. TypesPOLS2110-T35. Sensitive Personal, social, cultural and political orientations:sexual orientation, drug & alcohol use, mentalhealth issues, illegal activities, controversial publicissues, political belief, identities. E.g., Do you agree that the June 4th Incident is a conspiracy? Do you take drug at school?4 5. Constructing questionnairePOLS2110-T3Guides for asking questions The surveyor should ask questions only fromthose likely to be able to answer them accurately Questions should be relevant: dont ask questionson topics that respondents dont care about, haventthought about, or that are irrelevant to the researchproblem Respondent must be competent to answer: dontask questions that the respondent wont accuratelybe able to answer5 6. Question wordingPOLS2110-T31. Specific questions/statements for specificanswers Avoid double-barreled questions (make sure thequestion asks only one clear thing) Each item should consist of one concept/term E.g., Do I care about my students and theirfamilies? How many concepts/terms? How would you revive the question?6 7. Question wordingPOLS2110-T32. Simple language: Clear and understandable avoid slang, jargon, and technical terms Short items are best (so that they may be read,understood, and answered quickly) E.g.,Do you agree that the Legislative Councils splitvoting system should remain in passing a bill? (If you dont study HK politics), which term you find itdifficult to understand? How to change the question so as to make itunderstandable7 8. Question wordingPOLS2110-T33. Avoid ambiguous questions A word having at least two possible interpretations E.g.,Do you agree that the public should supervisethe council? Which term seems to be ambiguous How to make changes?8 9. Question wordingPOLS2110-T34. Avoid vague words Make items clear: dont assume the person youare questioning knows the terms you are using When unique and unusual terms need to bedefined in questionnaire items, use very cleardefinitions9 10. Question wordingPOLS2110-T35. Avoid leading questions Avoid biased items and terms: be sensitive to theeffect of your wording on respondents. E.g.,Do you agree that Rational voters should not cast a votefor those candidates who resist China and disturb HongKong? What do you feel? Any possible implications? How to make changes?10 11. Question wordingPOLS2110-T3 Avoid negative or double negative items E.g.,- if you ask whether librarians should not be paid more,it will confuse respondents;- I am confident in teaching vs. I am not confident inteaching;- I like to teach well-behaved students vs. I do not like toteach badly-behaved student11 12. Question wordingPOLS2110-T36. Avoid presuming questions E.g., Do you agree with the view that as June 4Turmoil is a conspiracy organized by the Westerncountries, the running of the candlelight vigilannually undermines the harmonious relationshipwith mainland China?12 13. Question wordingPOLS2110-T37. Try to avoid hypothetical questions Except such hypothetical questions can tape therespondents views from different perspectives Use and interpret cautiously E.g., If Hong Kong is no longer suitable for you,would you seek means to leave HK?1. Yes; 2. Would like to but cant; 3. NO; 4.DK/Refuse to answer (HKTP, 1999)13 14. Question wordingPOLS2110-T38. Decide carefully whether a question should beasked in a personalized form Use I as the subject I support Henry Tang to be the next ChiefExecutive VSHenry Tang should be the next Chief Executive Any differences? Which one would you prefer?14 15. Question wordingPOLS2110-T39. Avoid questions involving memory Factual accuracy is meaningless when knowing publicopinion (However,) In some cases, factual accuracy aims tointerpret the social/political meaning behind thechosen option E.g.,- For your understanding, July 1st is ___.A. a rally B. A public holiday C. a day that HKreturned to China- Can you name any three of the Legislative Councilmembers who are Civic Partys members?[Do you think this question is meaningful to evaluatethe level of understanding local politics fromrespondents?]15 16. Question wordingPOLS2110-T310. Deal with embarrassing, controversial andsensitive questions carefully E.g., Sexual, political orientations; marital status;age Possible solutions: Skip such questions? Put such questions at the end of the questionnaire?16 17. Question wordingPOLS2110-T3Ask the embarrassing questions in non-embarrassing ways. E.g.,Did you kill your wife?1. The Everybody approach: As you know, many people have been killing their wives thesedays. Do you happen to have killed yours?2. The numbered card: (face-to-face survey only) Would you please read off the number on this card whichcorresponds to what became of your wife? (HAND CARD TORESPONDENT)1. Natural Death 2. I killed her 3. Other (What?)(GET CARD BACK FROM RESPONDENT BEFOREPROCEEDING!)17 18. Asking questions which requiresensitive answersPOLS2110-T3Respondents may distort their answers If the question poses an actual threat If they want to make themselves look good If they are maintaining their own self-image18 19. FormattingPOLS2110-T31. Multi-Point Rating e.g. Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree Choose from 2-point rating scale up to 10-pointrating scale Specify rating labels Include/Exclude "Unable to Rate" option? Low to high or high to low rating label direction19 20. POLS2110-T320 21. POLS2110-T321 22. POLS2110-T322 23. RatingPOLS2110-T31. True scale: e.g., completely true, mostly true, somewhat true, slightly true,not at all true Completely true, generally true, generally untrue,completely untrue2. Always to never: e.g., Always, usually, sometimes, rarely, never3. Very good very poor4. Important not important at all/unimportant5. Likely unlikely6. Smiley faces [^_^], [o_o], [-_-], [>_