SOC 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Chaos Theory, Leading Question
Document Summary
Six guidelines for crafting survey questions: adapt the phrasing of questions to the educational level of respondents, but do not be insulting. What is your gpa that is, your grade point average? sounds patronizing, because it seems to presume that people do not know what gpa stands for. Yet, we do have to deal with the fact that some people may not know what a gpa is. To explain the meaning of your question without sounding patronizing, try rephrasing: what is your grade point average, that is, your gpa? : avoid double negatives in a question. Here"s an example: do you oppose denying students access to their files or not? what: avoid marathon questions. That is, ask only one question at a time. Here"s a double-barreled question: do you favor or oppose giving medical care to small babies and bums? well, gee, how can i answer that: don"t ask leading or loaded questions.
