Deck 9: Survey Research

Question 1

Bias in a questionnaire item:

A)encourages respondents to answer questions in a particular way
B)helps reveal the respondents' true feelings about a topic
C)is usually obvious to both the respondents and the researcher
D)occurs only when questions are negatively worded
E)helps develop rapport between researcher and subject

Answer 1

A

Question 2

A return rate graph:

A)begins on the day the questionnaires were mailed
B)begins on the day the first response is received
C)begins on the day when at least ten responses are received
D)begins on the day the second mailing is planned
E)varies as to when it should begin depending on the nature of the project

Answer 2

A

Question 3

One of the most important abilities that good interviewers have is the ability to:

A)dress in expensive,well-tailored clothes
B)determine very quickly the kind of person with whom the respondent feels most comfortable
C)rephrase questions in their own words
D)probe for responses
E)pry into the respondent's personal life

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In contrast to interviews,self-administered questionnaires have the advantage(s)of :

A)being more effective in dealing with complicated issues
B)producing fewer incomplete questions
C)dealing with the context of social life
D)handling sensitive issues more effectively if the surveys are anonymous
E)all of these choices are advantages of self-administered questionnaires

Question 5

Monitoring questionnaire returns may enable you to detect which of the following threats to internal validity?

A)Standard errors
B)Statistical regression
C)Compensatory rivalry
D)Instrumentation
E)History

Question 6

Which of the following advantages of the interview may raise ethical issues?

A)Its higher response rate
B)Its fewer number of "don't knows"
C)The ability of interviewers to clarify questions
D)The ability of interviewers to observe respondents as well as ask questions
E)None of these choices raise ethical issues

Question 7

Asking subjects "Did your children go to high school?" after they told you that they have no children violates which of the following criteria in question construction?

A)Avoid double-barreled questions.
B)Questions should be relevant.
C)Avoid biased items.
D)Avoid negative items.
E)Questions should be open-ended.

Question 8

The primary function of the probe is to:

A)loosen up the respondent
B)get the correct answer from the respondent
C)get the respondent to answer a question more fully
D)indicate an understanding and interest in the respondent
E)all of these choices

Question 9

A well designed training session for new interviewers should include all but which of the following::

A)a review of the survey instrument to build familiarization
B)strategies on how to probe for additional information when appropriate
C)a description of what the study is about
D)practice interviewing on actual participants in the research
E)prepared specifications for explaining and clarifying the survey instrument.

Question 10

A questionnaire item,distributed to a random sample of adults,reading "Are you not in support of nationalized health care",with a yes or no possible response,would violate which concept?

A)Avoid double-barreled questions.
B)Avoid leading the respondent
C)Avoid meaningful questions.
D)Avoid negative items
E)Respondents should be competent to answer

Question 11

The questionnaire item,"Did you file federal and state income tax reports last year?" with a response set of yes,no,can't remember,other,is an example of a(n):

A)open-ended question
B)ordinal question
C)double-barreled question
D)negative item
E)ratio variable

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT true regarding closed-ended and open-ended questions?

A)Closed-ended questions are more easily quantifiable.
B)Open-ended questions need not be coded before analysis
C)Open-ended questions lead to a greater variety of responses
D)Closed-ended questions are usually limited to three or four choices
E)Closed-ended questions are often given a choice of "other"

Question 13

Interview surveys have a number of advantages over mail surveys;which of the following is NOT one of those advantages?

A)Higher response rates
B)There is generally a smaller number of "don't knows" and "no answers"
C)There is a smaller number of relevant responses given
D)Observations can be made
E)All of these choices are advantages of the interview

Question 14

Working with a very limited budget,Professor Jenner undertook a national survey of 3,000 households.Jenner felt that the topic under investigation would produce a low response rate.What advice would you give Jenner?

A)Use postage stamps for both the outgoing and the return mail.
B)Use postage stamps for the outgoing mail and business reply permits for the return mail.
C)Use bulk rate for the outgoing mail and business reply for the return mail.
D)Use bulk rate for the outgoing mail and postage stamps for the return mail.
E)Use bulk rate for both the outgoing and the return mail.

Question 15

A variety of methods are available for the presentation of response categories.Which of the following methods does Babbie prefer?

A)Parentheses
B)Numbers
C)Boxes
D)Brackets
E)All of these choices are equally "okay"

Question 16

When follow-ups are planned with mail surveys:

A)the anonymity of respondents can no longer be guaranteed
B)more thoughtful answers are usually provided by those who wait until the follow-up to respond
C)response rates typically increase
D)response bias can no longer be estimated
E)all of these choices are true

Question 17

Interview surveys are recommended to open with

A)demographic questions
B)questions regarding specific content
C)it does not matter,it's the preference of the interviewer
D)a brief conversation
E)the most innocent questions

Question 18

In general,survey research is:

A)strong on reliability and strong on validity
B)strong on reliability and weak on validity
C)weak on reliability and strong on validity
D)weak on reliability and weak on validity
E)reliability and validity are not issues that concern researchers who use the survey technique

Question 19

Which of the following statements about contingency questions is FALSE? Contingency questions are designed to:

A)increase the likelihood of responses from those for whom the questions are relevant
B)spare respondents the frustration of reading and puzzling over questions that are irrelevant to them
C)enable the researcher to ask several questions that have the same set of answer set
D)facilitate the respondent's task in completing the questionnaire
E)all of these choices ARE accomplished using contingency questions

Question 20

A key problem of secondary analysis is:

A)cost
B)validity
C)sample selection
D)data collection strategies
E)questionnaire construction

Question 21

"Push polls" are useful for predicting what voters really think about candidates.

Question 22

A demonstrated lack of bias is more important than a high response rate.

Question 23

Professor Donnelly wants to conduct a training session for new interviewers working on his project.Donnelly asks you to review his plan for the training session.After reviewing the plan you should tell Donnelly to exclude _______ from the session?

A)a discussion of specifications
B)practice interviews where the interviewers interview each other
C)a description of what the study is about
D)practice interviews on people that Donnelly's selected for the sample
E)all of these choices should be included in a training session

Question 24

The best survey design involves fitting as many questions as possible on a single page in order to save time and cost

Question 25

The interviewer should be a neutral medium through which questions and answers are transmitted.

Question 26

The number of potential respondents that a researcher encounters,whether they participate or not,is labeled by the American Association For Public Opinion Research is

A)contact rate
B)response rate
C)cooperation rate
D)refusal rate
E)rejection rate

Question 27

The biasing effect of a particular question wording is easily anticipated.

Question 28

The higher the response rate,the less likely the chance of a significant response bias.

Question 29

Which of the following techniques tends to have the highest response rate?

A)Mail surveys
B)Fax surveys
C)Telephone surveys
D)Face-to-face interviews
E)All of these choices have similar response rates

Question 30

Which of the following lists the three main methods of administering survey questionnaires?

A)Self-administered questionnaires,face-to-face interviews,and mail surveys
B)Face-to-face interviews,mail surveys,and electronic surveys
C)Face-to-face interviews,telephone interviews,electronic surveys
D)Telephone interviews,electronic surveys,and self-administered questionnaires
E)Face-to-face interviews,self-administered questionnaires,and telephone surveys

Question 31

Professor Smidlapp mailed a questionnaire to students on the issue of academic dishonesty.Smidlapp planned to use inferential statistics in the analyses and was concerned about the response rate.You tell Smidlapp that technically the use of inferential statistics assumes that:

A)all members of the population complete and return the questionnaire
B)all members of the initial sample complete and return the questionnaire
C)at least 50% of the members of the initial sample complete and return the questionnaire
D)at least 50% of the population complete and return the questionnaire
E)the overall response rate exceeds 75%

Question 32

Whenever the interview contains open-ended questions,it is important that the interviewer summarize and paraphrase what has been said so that a more meaningful interpretation can be given to the data.

Question 33

The use of computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI)enables a researcher to begin analyzing data before the interviewing is complete.

Question 34

Compensating respondents for their participation is frowned upon for ethical reasons

Question 35

The phrasing used in closed-ended questions should allow respondents to attach their own meanings and interpretations to the question.

Question 36

Secondary analysis refers to the analysis of data collected earlier by another researcher for some purpose other than the topic of the current study.

Question 37

Questionnaires can be both those that are mailed to the respondents,as well as those administered on-site by a researcher

Question 38

Limit contingency questions to one page.

Question 39

Probes are used more frequently in open-ended questions than in closed-ended ones.

Question 40

Which of the following is a benefit of mail surveys over interview surveys?

A)higher response rates
B)there is generally a smaller number of "don't knows" and "no answers"
C)questions can be clarified rather than skipped by the participant
D)observations can be made
E)they allow more honest responses from participants.

Question 41

Babbie's recommendation is to place the demographic questions first in a printed questionnaire because they are the most inviting to a respondent.