Double Barrel
Were the burger and fries cooked according to your order?
Two questions as one, how would you interpret a no answer? Was it the burger, fries, or both that were not cooked to order? |
Avoid Double Negatives
Do you disagree that the school should not allow students to take more than 19 units? |
Emotional Language
Should we spend tax money to clean up the dirty and dangerous streets in our city?
“Dirty” and “dangerous” create an emotional response that biases the results. |
Prestige Bias
Do you support the surgeon general’s position on rural health care?
If a person is not sure, they might be influenced by the prestige of the surgeon general. |
Future Intentions
If HSU made it possible for you to do your own degree checks on-line would you use the service?
Questions that ask about future intentions, or distant past events are less reliable than those that ask about recent past events. For example: “How many pieces of bread did you eat yesterday?” will produce more valid information than either asking “How many pieces of bread have you eaten over the past three years?” Or “How many will you eat tomorrow?” |
Leading Question
How bad do you think the drug problem is in our schools?
Phrasing that imposes a bias or assumption that leads to a bias in the results. The above question begins with language that emphasizes that the drug problem is bad. This will likely lead to a result that emphasizes the negative. |
Questions Beyond Respondents Knowledge
How does your school principal view district meetings?
Asking about the views of others, or about events the person has no experience with will result in poor quality data. |
False Premises
With the U.S. currently spending so little on welfare, what level of increased funding would you support:
1)None 2)Minimal `3)Significant |
Jargon/abbreviations
Do you think NATO is fulfilling its mission as originally intended?
If someone were not familiar with the acronym for the NATO, North American Trade Organization! |
Ambiguity
Do you drink coffee regularly?
What does regularly mean? Better to ask once a day/ once a week/ etc. |
