Multiple choice questions
Question 1
An open question is one that:
a) Allows respondents to answer in their own terms
b) Does not suggest or provide a limited range of responses
c) Can help to generate answers for closed questions
d) All of the above
Question 2
In order to post-code answers to open questions, it is necessary to:
a) Count the frequency with which each answer has been given
b) Categorize unstructured material and assign a code number to each category
c) Identify the three most commonly cited responses and give them a code
d) Find out where each respondent lives and make a note of their postcode
Question 3
Which of the following is not an advantage of using closed questions in a survey?
a) It reduces the risk of variability in the way answers are recorded
b) It makes answers easier to process and analyse
c) They prevent respondents from giving spontaneous, unexpected answers
d) Closed questions are quicker and easier for respondents to complete
Question 4
Informant factual questions are those that:
a) Enquire about personal details such as age, income and occupation
b) Ask people about the characteristics of a social setting or entity that they know well
c) Seek to find out about people's attitudes and opinions on a range of topics
d) Try to identify the normative standards and values held by a social group
Question 5
Which of the following is a general rule of thumb for designing questions?
a) Always bear in mind your research questions
b) Never ask a closed question
c) Always use vignettes rather than open questions
d) Use ambiguous terms to put respondents at ease
Question 6
You should avoid using double-barrelled questions in a survey because:
a) They rely too much on a respondent's memory
b) They make the questions too long, so respondents lose interest
c) They are too abstract and general in scope
d) They confuse respondents by asking about two different things
Question 7
Leading questions should also be avoided because:
a) They suggest ways of answering and so may bias the results
b) They create a mismatch between the question and its possible answers
c) They involve negative terms and unnecessary jargon
d) They ask about several different things at the same time
Question 8
A vignette question is one that asks respondents to think about:
a) Family obligations to care for sick relatives
b) An intensely painful and sensitive issue in their personal life
c) A scenario involving imaginary characters in a realistic situation
d) Their favourite kind of salad dressing
Question 9
The value of piloting a questionnaire is that it helps you to:
a) Test out your questions on some of the people who will be in the final sample
b) Identify and amend any problems in the question wording, order and format
c) Find out what a trained pilot would think of the subject matter
d) All of the above
Question 10
The UK Data Archive is a useful resource for:
a) Studying the way questions have been successfully used in previous surveys
b) Stealing other people's questions without their permission
c) Learning more about your topic so that you can devise leading questions
d) Keeping your research questions in a safe place