Question Wording

Class 25

ANNOUNCEMENTS1. OPTIONAL REVIEW SESSION: THURS, 12/12

2. STATS EXERCISE DUE THURS, 12/12

3. FINAL: THURSDAY, 12/19 – SMALL CONF ROOM, SMITH 302 11:30 – 2:30

FORMAT: MULTIPLE CHOICE, SHORT ANSWERCOVERS: FROM MIDTERM THROUGH TODAY

4. COURSE EVALUATIONS – SIRS SURVEYS http://sirs.rutgers.edu/

Road Bumps in Human Communication

(Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson, 1967)

Watzlawick (Vaht-slahv-ick) applied for an assistantship with a psychiatric research institute. The following conversation took place with the receptionist.

WATZ: Good afternoon, I have an appointment with Dr. H. My name is Watzlawick

RECEPTIONIST: I didn't say it was.

WATZ.: (taken aback and somewhat annoyed). But I'm telling you it is.

RECEPTIONIST: (bewildered) Why then did you say it wasn't?

WATZ.: But I said it was.

WATZ: Why am I the object of some opaque but disrespectful joke?

RECEPTIONIST: First this guy says “my name is not Slavic”, then he says it is Slavic. He must be a new psychotic patient of Dr. H's.

Road Bumps in Human Communication

(Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson, 1967)

Watzlawick (Vaht-slahv-ick) applied for an assistantship with a psychiatric research institute. The following conversation took place with the receptionist.

WATZ: Good afternoon, I have an appointment with Dr. H. My name is not Slavic.

RECEPTIONIST: I didn't say it was.

WATZ.: (taken aback and somewhat annoyed). But I'm telling you it is.

RECEPTIONIST: (bewildered) Why then did you say it wasn't?

WATZ.: But I said it was.

Open Ended and Closed Ended Questions

Open Ended: Where respondent is free to provide an answer in his or her own words. "What topics lead to arguments in your family?"

Mummy insists that we wear academy blazers and ties to Sunday dinner, but Natasha and Sterling just want to wear their day-glo capes and studded collars.

Closed Ended: Where the respondent is restricted to a pre-set range of response options.

"What topics lead to arguments in your family?"

___ Finances___ Noise_X_ Decorum (manners, clothing, make-up)___ Household chores___ Opinions about social issues___ Other

Closed Ended vs. Open Ended Questions

Closed Ended

Defines question more clearly

Defines response options more clearly

Does not require an interviewer

Easy for respondent

Easy for coding/analysis

Easy for data entry

Provides for unexpected responses

Less likely to bias responses

Enhances respondent good-will

Historical record

Open Ended

How would you rate the competence of your court-appointed family mediator?

Poor 

Fair Good Very Good Excellent

1 2 3 4 5

To what degree are family conflicts resolved in a way you find satisfactory?

Not at all 

Slightly Somewhat Quite a Bit To a Great Degree

1 2 3 4 5

Subjective Response Scales

Considerations Regarding Questionnaire Item Format

1. Limited interpretability of subjective response scales

2. Agree-disagree options

3. "Don't Know" option

4. Middle position choice options

5. Unbalanced vs. balanced format

6. Measures of attitude strength

How Do You Rate Robeson Cafeteria Food?

Good Fair Poor

How Do You Rate Robeson Cafeteria Food?

Superb Very Good Good Fair Poor

Agree/Disagree Format

1. I wish my family would be more courteous.

2. I am tired of having to watch what I say.

3. Venting pent up feelings is selfish.

4. My family needs to see a conflict mediator.

Agree Disagree

Problems with this format?

Problems With Agree/Disagree Format

Lose info when squeezing range of attitudes into a dichotomy. Can’t correlate responses w’ each other.

Works best for extreme attitudes. Can’t distinguish moderate or ambivalent att’s from extreme att’s.

Confusing to indicate a negative (or positive) attitude by responding in the affirmative (or negative).

Fowler discourages use of agree/disagree for these reasons.

What Difference Does It Make To Include / Exclude DK (“Don’t Know”) Response?

1. Does it change rate at which people say DK?

2. Does it change the rate at which substantive (non-DK) responses are endorsed, relative to one another?

3. Does DK option change relationships between variables?

Response Type and Rate as a Function of DK Filter

Solution: Provide DK option.

“Floaters”: A Problem and a Mystery

Floaters: People who give a response when there is not a DK (“don’t

know”) filter, but who reply “Don’t Know” when there is a DK filter. Relations between responses changes when DK filters are used.

* Floaters weaken true correlations* Floaters can create false correls, where none actually exist* Floaters sometimes make no difference at all

Who are floaters? Difficult to say. For obscure questions, floaters tend to

be among the less educated.

Schwartz: Self Reports

1. How people make sense of questions: Pragmatics of Communication

2. How people answer behavioral questions

Cognitive strategies and heuristics

3. Special case of attitude questions: Context effects

Literal Meaning and Pragmatic Meaning Literal Meaning: Q. How would you articulate the chronologically proximal condition of your

limbic-related subjective state? Q. How would you describe your current mood? Pragmatic Meaning: Q. How would you describe your current mood?

(Do they want to know what I'm feeling right now?) (Do they want to know how I'd express my feelings,

e.g. in words, in song, through interpretive dance?)

Grician Maxims and the Pragmatics of Communications

1. Relation: Contribution must be relevant to conversation.

2. Quantity: Provide sufficient information:

not too little, not too much. 3. Manner: Information should be relayed clearly and

succinctly, not ambiguous and not over-wordy.

4. Quality: Information should be true, not false.

Grician Maxims Go to the Doctor

Inquiry Maxim Invoked Violation of Maxim

Adherence to Maxim

 

What brings you here today?

Relation My Car My sinuses

What is the nature of your problem?

Quantity I feel bad. [OR]My sinuses, located throughout my skull and producing mucus,

I think I may have a sinus infection.

What are your symptoms?

Manner As the Bard mused upon the stoppage of the River Thames…

My nose is all stuffed up.

Have you taken meds I prescribed

Quality Sure have—every day [a lie].

I keep forgetting—sorry [the truth]

Whoa! Way too much information!

How do I get to Kent?

Go to Smith Hall, third floor, Room 352

Tell him Social Psychology sucks

HEADLINES THAT VIOLATE GRICIAN MAXIMS

Relevance of Grician Maxims To Survey Questions

1. In normal conversation, people assume others are following these maxims.

2. In surveys, people make the same assumption:

a. All info. in surveys serves to convey main points

1) Wording

2) Cues in the format, structure, order

3. People use maxims to figure out how to answersurvey questions.

Closed-Ended Questions Help Clarify Meaning of Inquiry

“What is the most important thing for children to prepare them for life?”_______________________________________ OPEN ENDED

“What is the most important thing for children to prepare them for life?”

A. _____ Learning math CLOSED ENDED B. _____ Language skills C. _____ Politeness and manners D. _____ To think for themselves E. _____ Experimental methods “To think for themselves” Open ended endorse this: 04.6%

Closed ended endorse this: 61.5% Note: The effect of closed-ended questions is probably a combination

of added clarity plus suggesting responses that do not spontaneously occur to respondent.

Frequency Scales and Question Interpretation

Q. How often do conflicts arise in your family?

  "Frequent" Frame 

    "Infrequent" Frame

Once a day   Once a week

4-6 times a week   2-3 times a month

2-3 times a week   Once a month

Once a week   Once every 2-3 months

Once a month   Once every 6 months

   

 

   

xx

Frequency Scales and Question Interpretation

Q. How often do conflicts arise in your family?

  "Frequent" Frame 

    "Infrequent" Frame

Once a day   Once a week

4-6 times a week   2-3 times a month

2-3 times a week   Once a month

Once a week   Once every 2-3 months

Once a month   Once every 6 months

   

  X

X    

Frequent Common events

Infrequent Extreme events

Framing Past Events Affects Reports of Current EventsWinkielman, Knaüper, & Schwarz, 1998

Q1: “How often do you get angry during a typical (week/year)?

Hardly Ever Very Frequently 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Q2: Based on Q1how would you answer the following (1-10 scale)?

“Week” “Year”Intensity of feelings around events 5.74 6.37Seriousness of events 5.32 6.37

Answer to Q1 (“How often?”) 3.77 4.26

Rating Scale Format as Cue to Question Meaning

Q. How satisfied are you with the way family members respond to your concerns?

Not at all

Barely at all

Slightly Some-what

Moder-ately

Very Completely

-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

Q. How satisfied are you with the way family members respond to your concerns?

Not at all

Barely at all

Slightly Some-what

Moder-ately

Very Completely

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Rating Scale Format as Cue to Question Meaning

Q. How satisfied are you with the way family members respond to your concerns?

Not at all

Barely at all

Slightly Some-what

Moder-ately

Very Completely

-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

Q. How satisfied are you with the way family members respond to your concerns?

Not at all

Barely at all

Slightly Some-what

Moder-ately

Very Completely

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Note: Bipolar implies neg & pos, unipolar implies pos only

Researcher Affiliation as a Context Cue

"Hi. I'm from the Institute for Personality Research.Why do you think family conflicts occur?"

* Hostile types in this family* People lack communication skills

"Hi. I'm from the Institute for Social Research. Why do you think family conflicts occur?"

* No time for family dinners* Economic pressures

Inferring Meaning of Questions from Adjacent Questions

Target Question: Do you support the newly instituted educational contribution? [IN FACT NO SUCH POLICY EXISTS]

Preceding question

A. Do you favor the American system where students pay their own tuition?

B. Do you favor the Scandinavian system of government sponsored college education?

Students favored contribution more when preceded by Question A or B?

Inferring Meaning of Questions from Adjacent Questions

Target Question: Do you support the newly instituted educational contribution? [IN FACT THERE IS NO SUCH POLICY]

Preceding question

A. Do you favor the American system where students pay their own tuition?

Implies that contribution will come from students.

B. Do you favor the Scandinavian system of government sponsored college education?

Implies that contribution will come from government.

Students favored contribution more when preceded by Question B than by Question A.

Psychological Influences on Question Response

How often do people in your family have conflicts?

I. Cognitive tasks:

1. Recall of information

2. Computation of judgment

3. Format judgment in terms of choices II. Motivational/emotional issues

1. Self presentation

2. Social desirability

Response Format as Memory Cue

Response Format as Memory Cue

Number of Response Options Imply Norms

Number of Response Options Imply Norms

Survey Format Affects Interpretation of Responses

People who review survey results will draw format-based inferences about the meaning of responses.

Example: MD estimates of illness severity shaped by patient reports, which are shaped by survey response options.

Effects of Outcome (e.g., Symptom) Clarity and Frequency on Outcome Reporting

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Vaguely DefinedSymptoms

Clearly DefinedSymptoms

Sev

erity

High Freq. ScaleLow Freq. Scale

Vague Symptom (e.g., "feeling unwell")Clear Symptom (e.g., "fever")

How Later Questions Can Influence Responses to Earlier Questions