Chapter 13 – Designing the Data Collection Form for Communication Data
I. Learning Objectives:
Upon completing this chapter, the student should be able to:
1. Define telescoping error and recall loss and explain how they affect a respondent‘s
ability to answer questions accurately.
2. List some techniques that researchers use to secure respondents’ cooperation in
answering sensitive questions.
3. List some of the primary rules researchers should keep in mind in trying to develop
bias-free questions.
• Use simple words
4. Explain what the funnel approach to question sequencing is.
The funnel approach moves from the general to the specific.
5. Explain what a branching question is and discuss when it is used.
6. Explain the difference between target information and classification information
and tell which should be asked first in a questionnaire.
7. Explain the role of pretesting in the questionnaire development process.
II. Chapter Outline:
A. Introduction
Exhibit 13.1: Procedure for Developing a Questionnaire
2. Step 2: Determine Method of Administration
4. Step 4: Determine the Form of Response to Each Question
5. Step 5: Determine the Wording of Each Question
Manager’s Focus
a. Use Simple Words
6. Step 6: Prepare Dummy Tables
Exhibit 13.4: Dummy Table Examples
7. Step 7: Determine Question Sequence
a. Use Simple and Interesting Opening Questions
9. Step 9: Develop a Recruiting Message or Script
10. Step 10: Reexamine Steps 1 through 9, Pretest Questionnaire, and Revise if
Necessary
Manager’s Focus
Chapter 13 – Designing the Data Collection Form
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B. Summary
III. Answers to Review Questions:
1. Respondents reply to open-ended questions in their own words and are not limited
to a set of alternatives, while with close-ended questions, respondents choose their
2. Researchers may determine whether a specific questions should be included in a
3. Telescoping error is the tendency to remember an even as having occurred more
4. When asking sensitive questions, guarantee respondents that their answers will be
completely anonymous, put any sensitive question near the end of the
5. A split-ballot technique is a technique for combatting response bias in which
6. An ambiguous question contains subjective words that may mean different things
to different people and thus lead to inaccurate results. A leading question is one
framed so as to give the respondent a clue as to how he or she should answer. An
from individuals who assume different consequences. A double-barreled question
is one that calls for two responses and creates confusion for the respondent.
7. Target information refers to the subject of the study; classification information
refers to the other data we collect to classify respondents in hopes of gathering
8. The funnel approach to question sequencing gets its name from its shape, starting
with broad questions and progressively narrowing down the scope. This is
9. A branching question is one that initiates a skip pattern in a survey. Respondents
are branched to different questions in a survey based on their answers to the
10. A cover letter is a written message that introduces paper-based and online surveys.
It should include who you are, why you are contacting them, your request for their
11. A questionnaire pre-test is the final step in the survey development process. It is
IV. Instruction Suggestions:
2. Turn then to a more detailed discussion of the principles of good questionnaire
design. In elaborating these principles, it is helpful if the students have an actual
questionnaire to examine and critique. Actually, two questionnaires are helpful—
an example of a relatively good one and an example of a poor one. If a poor one
make it, simply by the questions they select and the manner in which they
organize them, e.g., demographic information at the beginning. It is helpful if the
topic for the bad questionnaire corresponds to that for the available good
questionnaire. The good questionnaire can then be distributed after the bad one
has been critiqued to demonstrate to the students a better way of doing it.
3. An alternative approach to this class session, or one that can also be employed to
supplement the discussion of point 2 above, is to provide the students with
4. Still a third approach to this class session is to have all students prepare a
questionnaire on some topic beforehand. Inform them that one or more of these
5. One of the better ways of exposing students to the problems of developing