It Is Well Known That the Order of the Questions

Essay

It is well known that the order of the questions in a survey can affect the responses.
This is thought to occur because issues raised in one question are remembered when
responding to later questions. In 1948 many people in the United States were
concerned about the spread of communism as a political and economic philosophy. A
survey given that year contained both of the following questions:
(i) Do you think the United States should let Communist newspaper reporters
from other countries come in here and send back to their papers the news as
they see it?
(ii) Do you think a Communist country like Russia should let American
newspaper reporters come in and send back to America the news as they see
it?
The following table contains the percentages of the Yes/No answers to question (i)
given by respondents when asked these questions in different orders. $$\begin{array}{l}\text { Responses to Communist reporter question in } 1948\\\begin{array} { | l | c | c | } \hline { \text { Question order } } & \text { \% Yes } & \text { \% No } \\\hline \text { Question (i) asked first } & 37 & 63 \\\text { Question (ii) asked first } & 73 & 27 \\\hline\end{array}\end{array}$$ (a) Construct a comparative bar chart using these response percentages.
(b) Do you think the order of the questions made a difference in the responses?
Explain why or why not in a few sentences.