Survey MethodologySurvey Instruments (2)

EPID 626

Lecture 8

Reference

• Most elements for this lecture were taken from :

Mangione, Thomas. Mail Surveys: Improving the Quality. Applied Social Research Methods Series, Vol 40. Sage Publications, 1995.

– Chapter 2, The Basics of Question Design

Open-ended questions• Short, specific

– What is your current age?

• Long, narrative– Why did you choose to come to this clinic?

• Problems:– Illegible handwriting– Inappropriate detail

• Usually avoid-the rest of the lecture is devoted to closed-ended questions

Yes/No and checklist questions

• Yes/No

• Checklist– From a list of alternatives, check those that

apply– Problematic because you can’t distinguish

a “No” from a skip– Yes/No may be better because it forces

thought

Multiple-choice questions• Response alternatives should be

mutually exclusive and exhaustive• Think about whether you want

respondents to just check one response or to be able to check multiple responses– Multiple responses may complicate analysis– Think about presenting alternatives as a

checklist

Multiple-choice questions (2)

• Include “Other” as an alternative?– What does it tell you?

• About the respondent?• About your question?

– Use open-ended “Specify”________– May be useful during pretesting or if you

are planning on revising the survey instrument

Semantic differential questions

• Two opposite adjectives at the ends

Best Worst

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

• Sometimes ask the question for two scenarios, ex: current situation and ideal situation, and look at the differential

Ranking questions

• Present alternatives and ask respondents to rank them– Ex: rank from the most important to the

least important

• Think about whether you want to allow tie rankings– How will that affect your analysis?

Two common formats

1

__ Eating fruit

__ Exercising

__ Meditating

__ Being happy

__ Sleeping enough

2

Eating fruit 1 2 3 4 5

Exercising 1 2 3 4 5

Meditating 1 2 3 4 5

Being happy 1 2 3 4 5

Sleep enough 1 2 3 4 5

Number 2 is usually preferable. Why?

Rating Scales• Present a respondent with a question or

statement and a range of responses

• Ex. How would you rate your relationship with your physician?

Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor

Rating scales (2)

• Likert scale:

Ex. Patients should have the right to sue Health Maintenance Organizations

Strongly Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly agree disagree

Rating scales (3)

• Psychological distance– Distance between alternatives should be

equal

• Number of response alternatives– Usually 3 to 7 are recommended– What might affect your choice?– Think about your research question– Think about the complexity of the issue

Rating scales (4)

• Order of response alternatives– Should be monotonically increasing or

decreasing– Should all be ordered in a column or row– Within a survey, may want to mix up

increasing and decreasing by section, but never within a section

Rating scales (5)

• Unipolar response alternatives– Range from “nothing” to “a great deal”

Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor

• Bipolar response alternatives– Range from “large negative” through “zero”

to “large positive”Strongly Disagree Unsure Agree Strongly

disagree agree

Rating scales (6)

• Odd or even number of alternatives?– Odd numbers create a midpoint

• This midpoint should be a neutral response• Many respondents really like midpoints and will

use them a lot!!!

– Even numbers force people to make a decision

– Depends on your research question

Rating scales (7)

– For very complex, emotional issues, you may want to have 2 middle points

• Ex. Slightly agree and Slightly disagree

• Balanced scales– Should have equal numbers on either side

of neutral – Unbalanced scales will lead to bias

Rating scales (8)

• “Don’t know” as an alternative– Usually necessary for knowledge questions– For attitude questions, “don’t know” usually

means “unsure”. Adding more middle categories may be a better solution

– Sometimes use a screen question then initiate a skip sequence

Rating scales (9)

• Example of a screening question:1. Are you familiar with the proposed legislation

regarding universal healthcare?

(circle one)

Yes Go to question 2.

No Go to question 17.

Rating scales (10)

• Behaviorally anchored scales– Objective, quantitative– Compare to subjective scales

Ex: How often do you exercise in a week?

• Subjective: Often Sometimes Never

• Behaviorally anchored: 5 times 3-4 times 1-2 times Never

• Which one to use?– Depends on your research question

General Recommendations• Write brief questions• Write clear questions

– Define ambiguous terms– Avoid jargon– Avoid double negatives– Avoid unclear pronouns– For open-ended questions, avoid adverbial

constructions such as how, why, when, where

General Recommendations (2)

• Be careful with:– Intentions– Hypotheticals– Assumptions: commonplace is not

universal

• Write unidimensional questions

• Write mutually exclusive and exhaustive response alternatives

General Recommendations (3)

• Generally avoid loaded questions– Special case for questions that may involve

social desirability– When might we want to ask loaded

questions?

• “Most people have times when they drink too

much and feel tipsy. How often has this happened to you in the last month?”

• “Most people feel that smoking marijuana is harmful. How do you feel?”

• “Marijuana has been shown to be an effective treatment for people with some symptoms of AIDS. How do you feel about legalizing marijuana?”