Deck 7: Survey Research

Question 1

A self-administered survey is ______.

A) conducted by interviewers questioning respondents over the phone and then recording their answers
B) conducted by mailing a questionnaire to respondents, who then administer the survey themselves
C) completed by individual respondents assembled in a group
D) always conducted over a computer

Answer 1

B

Question 2

______ type responses generally ask respondents to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with statements.

A) Fence Sitting
B) Floating type
C) Likert-type
D) Filter-type

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Fence-sitters are people who ______.

A) choose a substantive answer even when they do not know anything about a particular question
B) see themselves as neutral in their attitudes toward a particular issue
C) help researchers decide whether responses are consistent
D) feel that questions about income invade their privacy

Answer 3

B

Question 4

One of the most successful omnibus surveys is the ______.

A) NCVS
B) NISVS
C) GSS
D) U.S. Census

Question 5

Two matters may undermine the validity of a phone survey: not ______ and not ______.

A) reaching the population; getting some surveys
B) finding all the available units; reaching generalizability
C) finding designated phone exchanges; reaching inappropriate households
D) reaching the proper sampling units; getting enough complete responses

Question 6

______ questions are excellent tools for obtaining respondents' interpretations in greater detail and can often illuminate flaws in other questions.

A) Closed-ended
B) Specific
C) Unclear
D) Open-ended

Question 7

Consider this question: On average, how much time do you spend on the job each week taking care of traffic violations? Less than 1 hour
1-3 hours
3-6 hours
6-10 hours
10 hours or more
Which answer best describes the response categories?

A) They are both mutually exclusive and exhaustive.
B) They are exhaustive only.
C) They are mutually exclusive only.
D) none of these

Question 8

Research has shown that one third of the public will provide an opinion on a proposed law they know nothing about if they are not provided with a ______ response option.

A) neutral
B) "don't care"
C) "don't know"
D) fence sitting

Question 9

The difficulty with group-administered surveys is that assembling a group ______.

A) is rarely approachable because respondents don't trust researchers
B) is seldom feasible because it requires a captive audience
C) it is much easier to send out computer generated questionnaires
D) can be difficult because it tends to have a very high response rate

Question 10

What is the foremost reason for the popularity of survey methods?

A) versatility
B) high cost
C) no need for reference points
D) social acceptance

Question 11

If financial resources are available, ______ is often the best survey design

A) in-person interviewing
B) phone interviewing
C) computer assisted personal interviewing
D) computer interactive voice response software

Question 12

Respondents who choose a substantive answer even when they do not know anything about a particular question are ______.

A) floaters
B) fixed choice respondents
C) fence-sitters
D) skip patterns

Question 13

When several questions are used to measure one concept, the responses may be combined to take the sum or average of the responses in order to create a(n) ______.

A) reliability measure
B) index
C) reverse code
D) idiosyncratic variation

Question 14

When respondents are offered explicit responses to choose from, this type of question is referred to as a ______ question.

A) explicit
B) fixed-choice
C) summary
D) open-ended

Question 15

What type of questions is this: "Do you disagree that juveniles should not be tried as adults if they commit murder?"

A) a negative-negative question
B) a double-negative question
C) a double-barreled question
D) a mutually exclusive question

Question 16

A survey question used to identify a subset of respondents who then are asked other questions is known as a(n) ______.

A) idiosyncratic variation
B) contingent question
C) skip pattern
D) filter question

Question 17

Generally, research shows that the longer the reference period, the greater the ______.

A) specificity of the reporting of a given behavior
B) underreporting of a given behavior
C) chance that respondents will remember more details
D) opportunity for respondents to construct meaningful responses

Question 18

When you want respondents to make only one choice, the fixed-response categories must ______.

A) overlap
B) allow all respondents to select one or more options
C) force all respondents to choose more than one option
D) not overlap

Question 19

CATI is ______.

A) computer interactive voice response
B) cell assisted telephone interviewing
C) cellular assisted trip interaction
D) computer-assisted telephone interview

Question 20

In practice, survey questions, if misleading or unclear, can result in ______.

A) open-ended questions without explicit response choices
B) inappropriate and unintended answers
C) closed-ended questions with explicit response choices
D) easily understandable answers

Question 21

Structurally, questions on surveys generally fall into two categories: those with and those without explicit response choices.

Question 22

Most mailed, group, phone, and electronic surveys are ______.

A) loosely structured by the researcher prior to the administration
B) structured in advance by the researcher
C) structured by the administrator of the instrument
D) loosely structured by the interviewer

Question 23

Research has shown that questions that are written with more behavior-specific language, such as those used by the NISVS, result in much better recall by respondents.

Question 24

Questions asking for information such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, income, or religion are known as ______ questions.

A) demographic
B) idiosyncratic
C) exhaustive
D) administration

Question 25

Unless survey questions are clear and convey the intended meaning to respondents, they present a difficult task for researchers.

Question 26

Electronic surveys have become increasingly useful because of growth in the ______.

A) mailed sampling industry
B) lengthy sets of response choices
C) fraction of the population using the Internet
D) access to the Internet has reached virtually everyone these days

Question 27

If a survey could possibly have any harmful effects for the respondents, these should be ______.

A) glossed over so as not to affect the outcome of the research
B) withheld from participants until after the research is concluded
C) played down so as not to frighten participants
D) disclosed fully in the cover letter or introductory statement

Question 28

A survey question used to identify a subset of respondents who then are asked other questions is a(n) ______ question.

A) skip
B) filter
C) idiosyncratic
D) contingent

Question 29

The unique combination of questions created in a survey by filter questions and contingent questions are ______ patterns.

A) idiosyncratic
B) contingent
C) skip
D) floater

Question 30

Good grammar is a basic requirement for clear questions.

Question 31

To prevent any possibility of harm to subjects due to disclosure of information, it is critical to preserve subject confidentiality by ______.

A) sending follow-up mailings to the respondents at their home addresses to make certain all is well that they are safe
B) phoning subjects to ensure safety
C) using only numbers to identify individuals on their questionnaires
D) releasing contact info, including name and telephone numbers, to an unknown third party related company for follow-up

Question 32

To avoid confusion, the U. S. Census Bureau adopted the following response categories for the variable 'marital status' ______.

A) Married, Separated, Divorced, and Never Married
B) Never Married, Married, and Divorced
C) Married, Separated, Divorced, Widowed, and Never Married
D) Married and Not Married

Question 33

The most important consideration in comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the four survey designs is ______.

A) how flexible they can be to all fit together
B) the likely response rate they will generate
C) how they will deal with being mailed
D) how unlikely they are to avoid social desirability bias

Question 34

An omnibus survey should be guided by a well-defined inquiry.

Question 35

The researcher may minimize respondents' distress by ______.

A) interviewing groups of victims at one time
B) providing them with information on helpful services and resources
C) reminding participants that they must complete the interview once it is started
D) proceeding with questions even though they may be embarrassing or uncomfortable for the participant

Question 36

No questionnaire should be considered ready for use until it has ______.

A) been posttested
B) been carefully screened by the government
C) undergone careful reading by all members of the university's top officials
D) been pretested

Question 37

Question order and the use of multiple questions to uncover attitudes about emotionally charged attitudes are important because ______.

A) these factors also can influence responses
B) any time emotionally charged attitudes are used, errors can occur
C) they do away with the problems surrounding context effects
D) then the researchers do not need to worry about topic divisions

Question 38

One advantage to in-person interviewing is ______.

A) response rates are higher for this survey design than others, when the respondent is approached by a courteous interviewer
B) that interviews don't have to be long, drawn out designs
C) response rates are almost as high as mail surveys
D) that they are costly, which means the researcher is likely to get very good information

Question 39

Mixed-mode surveys allow ______.

A) more than one survey design to play on another's strengths and therefore make the whole survey much stronger
B) the weaknesses of one survey design to be overcompensated for by another design
C) nonrespondents from one survey to be resurveyed several more times to
D) the strengths of one survey design to compensate for the weakness of another

Question 40

An omnibus survey covers a range of topics to different social scientists.

Question 41

Mixed-mode surveys allow the strengths of one survey design to compensate for the weaknesses of another.

Question 42

Likert-type responses generally ask respondents to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with statements.

Question 43

Group surveys are the most expensive type of surveys.

Question 44

Cell phone users are harder and more costly to contact in phone surveys.

Question 45

Mailed, group, and phone surveys are completed by the respondents themselves.

Question 46

Idiosyncratic variation is variation in responses to questions caused by individuals' reactions to particular words or ideas in the question instead of by variation in the concept that the question is intended to measure.

Question 47

When a question is really asking more than one thing, it is called a double-negative question.

Question 48

Floaters are respondents who choose a substantive answer even when they do not know anything about a particular question.

Question 49

Question order can lead to context effects when one or more questions influence how subsequent questions are interpreted.

Question 50

What are the three attractive features of survey research?

Question 51

Drawing a random sample is made more difficult by random digit dialing because it dials numbers that are not published.

Question 52

Survey research usually has more ethical dilemmas than field research designs.

Question 53

The initial statement of the cover letter sets the tone for the entire questionnaire.

Question 54

To enhance response rate, researchers can offer respondents who complete an online survey a voucher to be used at an eating establishment.

Question 55

Special statistics called validity measures help researchers decide whether responses are consistent.

Question 56

Almost all questionnaires include a section on demographic information such as sex, age, race or ethnicity, income, and religion.

Question 57

Filter questions create skip patterns.

Question 58

Asking questions that are not necessary for purposes of their research may make the questionnaire more intrusive than necessary.

Question 59

People often tend to agree with a statement just to avoid seeming disagreeable.

Question 60

Floaters are people who see themselves as neutral in their attitudes toward a particular issue.

Question 61

Why is pretesting so important? Give an example.

Question 62

Name four organizational guidelines should surveys follow, for most effectiveness?

Question 63

What are demographic questions? Why are they used in research? As part of your answer, give examples.

Question 64

What are the two main types of questions? Describe and give an example of each.

Question 65

Choose any three survey designs. Which design should be used and when? What are the major advantages and disadvantages to the designs?

Question 66

According to your text, what are the four guidelines for writing clear and meaningful questions?

Question 67

What are Fence-Sitters? And what are floaters? As part of your answer, give an example of each.

Question 68

How are multiple questions formed into an Index? Why is it used? Explain and give an example.

Question 69

Describe Likert-type responses.

Question 70

What are the three key principles, as described in your text, to guide the design of a questionnaire?

Question 71

Why might a researcher use filter questions in a survey? What are they designed to do? As part of your answer, provide a filter question and skip pattern.

Question 72

What is meant by Make Response Categories Exhaustive? Give an example.

Question 73

What is a split-ballot design? Give an example. What other organization guidelines are there?

Question 74

What is meant by Make Response Choices Mutually Exclusive? Give an example.