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Social Research Methods

Chapter 11: Asking questions

Alan Bryman

Slides authored by Tom OwensSlides authored by Tom Owens

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Open questions

• Advantages– Respondents answer in their own terms– Allow for new, unexpected responses – Exploratory - generate fixed answer questions

• Disadvantages– Time-consuming for interviewer and respondent– Difficult to code– More effort required from respondent– Interviewer variation in recording answers

Pages 246, 247

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Closed questions

• Advantages– Quicker and easier to complete (better response rate and

less missing data)– Easy to process data (pre-coded)– Easy to compare answers (intercoder reliability)

• Disadvantages– Restrictive range of answers: no spontaneity – Difficult to make fixed choice answers exhaustive– Respondents may interpret questions differently

Pages 249, 252

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Types of questions

• Personal factual questions• Factual questions about others• Informant factual questions• Attitudes• Beliefs• Normative standards and values• Knowledge of a subject

Pages 253

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Designing questions: general rules

• Remember your research questions• Decide exactly what you want to find out• Imagine yourself as a respondent

– How would you answer the questions?– Identify any vague or misleading questions

Pages 254

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Things to avoid…..

• Ambiguous terms: ‘often’, ‘regularly’, ‘frequently’• Long questions• Double-barrelled questions: may be different answers

to each part• Very general questions: because they lack a frame of

reference• Leading questions: hinting at a preferred response• Asking two questions in one• Negative terms: ‘not’, ‘never’ - especially double

negatives• Technical terms, (jargon and acronyms)

Pages 255-258

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Things to make sure of…..

• Do the respondents have the requisite knowledge?

• If you just want a yes/no answer, have you given more possibilities?

• Have you an equal number of positive and negative responses to a question to avoid bias?

• Are you relying too much on the respondent’s memory?

• Have you thought through whether you should include “don’t know” options?

Pages 258, 259

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Common mistakes when designing questions

• Excessive use of open questions

• Excessive use of yes/no questions

• No instructions about how to indicate answers (tick box, circle, delete?)

• Overlapping categories

• More than one answer may be applicable

• Answers do not correspond to the question

Tips and skillsPages 259, 260

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Vignette questions

• Present respondents with a scenario

• Ask them how they would respond or what they think the characters should do

• Anchors opinions and choices in a concrete, specific context (may be easier to answer)

• Useful for sensitive topics – Less threatening: imaginary characters suggest social

distance from respondent

Pages 261-263

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Piloting and pre-testing questions

• Check that the research instrument works– Gain practice in using the interview schedule– Does each question flow smoothly on to the next?– Identify vague or confusing questions– Remove any questions that receive uniform responses

• Open questions can generate fixed choice answers for closed questions in the main research

• Be careful that people who help with your pilot study are not included in the final sample

Pages 263, 264

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition

Using existing questions

• Common practice in survey research• Questions have already been piloted• Known properties of reliability and validity• Helps you to draw comparisons with other studies• ‘Question banks’

– Repositories of questions used in previous surveys– Consult the UK Data Archive

Pages 264