Deck 9: Survey Research

Question 1

A key problem associated with secondary analysis is

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

Answer 1

B

Question 2

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.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of interviews as compared to self-administered questionnaires?

A)Interviews are more effective in dealing with complicated issues.
B)Interviews produce fewer incomplete questions.
C)Interviews have higher response rates.
D)Interviews handle sensitive issues more effectively.
E)Interviews allow the researcher to probe for additional information.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

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 5

In general,survey research is an appropriate observational method for all but which of the following:

A)describing a population too large to observe directly.
B)descriptive, exploratory, and explanatory purposes.
C)the measurement of attitudes prevalent in a larger population.
D)studies that have individual people as the unit of analysis.
E)gaining an in-depth knowledge of the individuals' background and history.

Question 6

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 7

Which of the following statements is FALSE regarding push polls?

A)They have been condemned by the American Association for Public Opinion.
B)They are a source of useful political information
C)They feed potential voters false information.
D)They attempt to push voters from one candidate toward another.
E)They are a telemarketing technique.

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)allow the interviewer to give the respondent more information about the question.

Question 9

During an interviewer training session,Jones,a trainee,asks you,"What should I do if...?" You tell Jones the first thing to do is

A)check the specifications.
B)whatever you think is most appropriate in that situation.
C)it will not happen.
D)call me if it happens.
E)jot down problems and skip that part of the interview.

Question 10

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.

Question 11

Which of the following statements is(are)INCORRECT?

A)Closed-ended questions should limit respondents to three or four choices.
B)Closed-ended questions should have response categories that are mutually exclusive and exhaustive.
C)Closed-ended questions should provide uniformity of response.
D)Closed-ended questions should cover the range of likely responses.
E)Closed-ended questions are appropriate when relevant answers to questions are relatively clear.

Question 12

When designing an online survey,which of the following is not recommended?

A) using a straight forward and clean interface for the design.
B) limiting studies to 15 minutes or less.
C) offer to share results with everyone who completes the survey.
D) keep switching survey designs throughout to maintain interest.
E) use plain, simple language

Question 13

A good interviewer is one who is able to do all but which of the following?

A)Dress in a fashion similar to that of the people being interviewed.
B)Determine very quickly the kind of person the respondent will feel most comfortable with.
C)Clarify questions when needed
D)Respectfully probe for responses.
E)Pry into the respondent's personal life.

Question 14

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 15

Babbie recommends that the interviewer training session begin with

A)a discussion of general guidelines and procedures.
B)a description of the specifications.
C)a demonstration interview.
D)a description of what the study is about.
E)a description of the questionnaire.

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)costs are rarely manageable for the researcher.

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT an example of a new technology for doing survey research?

A)CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing)
B)CASI (computer assisted self-interviewing)
C)BRS (biometric response system)
D)VR (voice recognition)
E)TDE (touchtone data entry)

Question 18

The following four questions appeared in a survey.Which of the questions is(are)a contingency question?
Q1: Are you married? (Yes,No)
Q2: How old was your spouse on his/her last birthday?
Q3: What is your spouse's current employment status?
Q4: What is your current employment status?

A)Q1 is a contingency question and the rest are not.
B)Q1, Q2, and Q3 are contingency questions and Q4 is not.
C)Q2 and Q3 are contingency questions and Q1 and Q4 are not.
D)Q2, Q3, and Q4 are contingency questions and Q1 is not.
E)All four questions are contingency questions.

Question 19

Which of the following lists the three main methods of administering survey questionnaires to a sample of respondents?

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

Question 20

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 21

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.

Question 22

All politicians are crooked.How crooked do you feel your own representatives are? The major flaw in this item is that it

A)is biased.
B)is too short.
C)contains negative items.
D)is irrelevant.
E)is double-barreled

Question 23

Which one of the following is NOT a strength of survey research?

A)they are particularly useful in describing in detail the behaviors of a small population
B)they make large samples feasible
C)they are flexible
D)they enhance reliability by asking the same questions in the same way
E)they are fairly cost-effective

Question 24

Which question construction guideline does the following questionnaire item most clearly violate? "Would you not say that crime is not a serious problem in the U.S.?"

A)Avoid double-barreled questions.
B)Avoid short items.
C)Avoid biased terms.
D)Avoid meaningful questions.
E)Avoid negative items.

Question 25

The chief advantage of telephone surveys over those conducted face-to-face center primarily on

A)greater response rates.
B)more complete responses given by respondents.
C)better sampling techniques.
D)time and money.
E)randomization

Question 26

Surveys are particularly appropriate to

A)study a small group of church members.
B)use in an experiment in the laboratory.
C)collect original data to describe a large population.
D)conduct analyses of people in observation studies.
E)ethnographic data

Question 27

On a survey measuring respondents' fear of crime,including a question about one's political views would be an example of which problem in survey research?

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

Question 28

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 29

Oregonia wanted to survey women who came to a battered women's shelter,and was particularly concerned with hearing women's own answers to questions.It would be best to use

A)open-ended questions.
B)items.
C)closed-ended questions.
D)matrix questions.
E)contingent questions

Question 30

Questions that are used to screen for whether or not the subsequent question applies to the respondent or not are known as:

A)irrelevant questions..
B)skip questions.
C)divisive questions.
D)contingency questions.
E)applied questions..

Question 31

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of the telephone interview as compared to the face-to-face interview?

A)Telephone interviews save time.
B)Telephone interviews are less expensive.
C)Telephone interviews are safer.
D)Telephone interviews prevent interviewer bias.
E)Telephone interviews are less intimidating than face-to-face ones.

Question 32

How many follow-ups to the original mailing is the most efficient in terms of response rate?

A)zero
B)one
C)two
D)three
E)four

Question 33

A particular problem with matrix questions is

A)response-set.
B)respondents are not capable of answering them.
C)they are double-barreled.
D)they are open-ended.
E)they are not valid

Question 34

According to Babbie,the minimum level for an adequate response rate for any type of survey is

A)30 percent.
B)40 percent.
C)50 percent.
D)60 percent.
E)There is no minimum level; it should be as high as possible.

Question 35

Assume that the following would be reasonable conversational questions/statements based on a subject's previous statement.Which is(are)the best probe(s)?

A)"In what way is that a better job?"
B)"How is that a better job?"
C)"Tell me more about why that's a better job."
D)"Can you tell me more about how that's a better job?"
E)All of these choices are good probes.

Question 36

Steve used this item in his questionnaire: "What do you think about the conflict?" What is the major weakness with this item?

A)it is too short
B)it is double-barreled
C)it is a negative item
D)it is unclear
E)it asks for an opinion

Question 37

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)its ease in data collection.

Question 38

A minimum response rate of what percent is adequate for analysis?

A)50%
B)60%
C)70%
D)40%
E)90%

Question 39

After designing a questionnaire,the surest protection against such mistakes as ambiguous questions is to

A)pretest the questionnaire with people who at least somewhat resemble your eventual sample.
B)let it set for a few weeks so that the errors become more apparent.
C)put it through the computer and do a factor analysis.
D)run it through a grammar-checking computer program.
E)proofread your questionnaire

Question 40

Which of the following techniques does Babbie recommend as the "best" for the presentation of response categories to the respondent?

A)a code number
B)brackets
C)boxes
D)parentheses
E)quotation marks.

Question 41

Issues that are complex and often require interpretation are most well suited for which survey modality?

A)online survey.
B)telephone survey.
C)interview survey.
D)self-administered questionnaire
E)focus groups

Question 42

Which of the following is generally NOT suggested as a good practice in online survey development?

A)enforce time limits.
B)use specific, but simple instructions.
C)ensure clear visibility and readability.
D)consider technical variations, such as operating systems and web browsers
E)offer to share survey results with participants.

Question 43

Ying is conducting research on the elderly to determine what their fear of crime is,as well as what affects this fear.In general,which of the following modalities would be the LEAST appropriate to use?

A)interview survey.
B)online survey.
C)mail survey.
D)telephone survey.
E)self-report survey.

Question 44

Which one of the following is NOT an advantage of interviews over questionnaires?

A)Bias is reduced by the presence of an interviewer.
B)The number of "don't knows" is reduced.
C)higher response rates
D)can clarify confusing items
E)can read kinesics (body language)

Question 45

Generally,interviewers should dress

A)in their Sunday best clothes.
B)according to the weather.
C)slightly worse than the people they will be interviewing.
D)similar to the people they will be interviewing.
E)in their normal everyday clothing.

Question 46

Which of the following types of surveys yields the LEAST amount of interviewer bias?

A)mail surveys
B)personal interviews
C)telephone interviews
D)computer-assisted telephone interviewing
E)combination of any method

Question 47

Stephanique used this item in her questionnaire: "My working conditions are not satisfactory," and used "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" as responses.What is the major weakness with this item?

A)It is too short.
B)It is not relevant.
C)It is a negative item.
D)It is biased.
E)It asks for an opinion.

Question 48

Margaret used this question in her questionnaire given to students: "Are you satisfied with your grade in this class and the amount of homework?" What is the major weakness with this item?

A)It is unclear.
B)It is double-barreled.
C)Respondents are not competent to answer.
D)It is biased.
E)It is not objective.

Question 49

Which of the following is NOT a major concern that a researcher must address if they are planning to conduct an online survey?

A) device respondents may use (computer, tablet, smartphone).
B) screensizes of device being used.
C) software used by respondents.
D) population of interest.
E) how the survey would look if printed out..

Question 50

Michelle,an undergraduate English major at the local university was recruited to take part in a survey that examined student perceptions on which graduate courses in computer science she was planning to take.Her responses would be problematic for the researcher because they were:

A)erroneous because the questions were not clear.
B)erroneous because the questions were double-barreled.
C)erroneous because he was not competent to answer the questions.
D)relevant because he was willing to answer.
E)relevant because the questions were clear.

Question 51

When respondents in an interview give inappropriate or incomplete responses,the interviewer should

A)probe.
B)go on to the next question.
C)ask if there are any problems.
D)call the interviewing supervisor for advice.
E)call them on it

Question 52

The survey question,"Do you think that premarital sex is biblically wrong and that persons who engage in premarital sex will likely go to hell?" is considered an erroneous question because it

A)involves religion.
B)involves attitudes which are likely to change over time.
C)is a double-barreled question.
D)elicits a socially desirable answer.
E)is not applicable to everyone.

Question 53

Roger is training a new batch of interviewers for his project studying attitudes on the 2008 economic bailout package in the U.S.His previous supervisor has indicated that the best training for interviewing is to

A)memorize the interview protocol.
B)quiz other interviewers on the interview protocol.
C)practice interviewing on each other.
D)practice on volunteers from Roger's pool of co-workers.
E)practice alone.

Question 54

The question,"Do you believe that the United States should not withdraw its troops from Iraq" is problematic because

A)the respondent is not competent to answer.
B)it is a double-barreled question.
C)the respondent may not be willing to answer.
D)is a negative question.
E)it is not a short question.

Question 55

What is the desired ordering of items in interviews and self-administered questionnaires?

A)Ask the demographic items first in both.
B)Ask the demographic items last in both.
C)Ask the demographic items first in interviews and last in questionnaires.
D)Ask the demographic items first in questionnaires and last in interviews.
E)Make a decision based on the interviewer's rapport with the interviewee.

Question 56

A design technique for mail surveys that allows more questions to be asked in a smaller piece of the paper is using

A)contingency questions
B)screening questions
C)matrix questions
D)compression questions
E)using really small fonts

Question 57

In designing an online survey regarding drug treatment availability for convicted felons,one of Euphoria's questions is "Do you support drug treatment supported by the government for convicted felons?".Why is her question problematic?

A) the respondent would not be competent to answer.
B) it is a long question.
C) it is a negative question.
D) it uses biased terms.
E) it is a double-barreled question.

Question 58

In Greg's survey of high school students,he accidentally had a question asking "How many grandchildren do you have?" What is the problem with this?

A)It is double-barreled.
B)It is biased.
C)It is too long.
D)Respondents are not competent to answer the item.
E)The topic is not relevant.

Question 59

Belinda wanted to ask several questions asking about which dimensions of feminism that respondents would agree with.All the items have the same answer categories.Which type of questions would be the best to use?

A)open-ended matrix
B)closed-ended matrix
C)contingency
D)interview
E)telephone

Question 60

Sara was raped by one of her male friends.She is accompanied to the hospital with another friend for an examination,and while there,is interviewed by the police,nurses,and a sexual assault advocate.The advocate gives Sara a questionnaire asking about the circumstances surrounding the rape.Sara is hesitant about filling out the questionnaire as she is still emotionally distraught.The advocate tells her that she MUST fill out the questionnaire in order to move forward with the report of rape.If Sara chooses to answer the questions,her answers would be

A)erroneous because the questions were not clear.
B)erroneous because she was not willing to answer.
C)relevant because she was competent to answer.
D)relevant because the questions were relevant.
E)relevant because the questions were clear.

Question 61

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

Question 62

Open-ended questions should never be used on a mail survey.

Question 63

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

Question 64

During interview surveys,demographic questions should be asked up front.

Question 65

Early research and experimentation regarding online surveys has found that respondents spend more time looking at:

A) the early choices of a survey.
B) the latter choices of a survey.
C) the middle choices of a survey.
D) equally amongst all of the choices of a survey.
E) this research has not yet been conducted.

Question 66

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

Question 67

Surveys are excellent devices for studying the context of social life.

Question 68

Online surveys have been found to have response rates comparable to:

A) mail surveys.
B) telephone surveys.
C) interview surveys.
D) lower than mail, telephone, or interview surveys.
E) higher than mail, telephone, and interview surveys.

Question 69

Secondary analysis refers to research in which the data collected and processed by one researcher are reanalyzed by another researcher,often for a different purpose.

Question 70

Once interviewers are trained,their work no longer requires supervision.

Question 71

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

Question 72

The use of inferential statistics in survey analysis assumes that at least 55% of the initial sample completed and returned their questionnaires.

Question 73

Open-ended questions are analogous to multiple choice questions and closed-ended questions are analogous to essay questions.

Question 74

Surveys may be used for descriptive and explanatory purposes but not for exploratory purposes.

Question 75

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

Question 76

Babbie suggests beginning a self-administered questionnaire with interesting items (e.g.,questions about sexual practices or deviant behaviors)so that respondents glancing over the first few items will want to answer.

Question 77

To overcome the effect of the order of questions on respondent's answers,it is important to randomize the order of the items.

Question 78

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 79

Which of the following had little to no impact on response rates for online surveys?

A) postcard reminders.
B) setting deadlines for completion.
C) personalizing the survey.
D) sending e-mail reminders.
E) all of these choices had little to no impact.

Question 80

Interview surveys are best for addressing sensitive topics such as criminal behavior.