Page 80 - DLIS401_METHODOLOGY_OF_RESEARCH_AND_STATISTICAL_TECHNIQUES

Unit 5: Research Techniques and Tools

5. Pre testing and revising Notes

6. Specifying procedures for its use.
A few deep thoughts are needed at the beginning:
• Are you certain that this study is worth doing?
• Are your research questions and key variables clearly identified?

• What answers do you need to have?
• What sort of questions are likely to gather those answers?
• What problems are likely to be encountered in getting a good response?

The number of questions must be limited to insure a good response. Response rate declines
rapidly as the number of questions, especially those that require time and thought are added.
Questions can usually be divided into two categories: (1) absolutely necessary and (2) interesting.
Be certain that the information to be gathered is not available elsewhere, i.e., in census data or
another report. Respondents are much less likely to respond to a question if they feel the
answer is readily available.
Questions will need to be placed in a logical sequence.
Type of Information Sought
Typically, information sought falls into four categories:

1. Attitudes or what people see/understand about certain things
2. Beliefs or what people think is true [more strongly felt than attitudes]
3. Behavior or what people do
4. Attributes or what people are.
Attitude questions ask people to indicate if they favor or oppose, if they prefer or not, should
or should not, right versus wrong, desirable versus undesirable. These questions require sensitive,
thoughtful wording.
Belief questions ask people if something is true or false, correct or incorrect, accurate or inaccurate.
Behavior questions ask people what they have done, what they do, or what they plan to do.
Attribute or demographic questions ask about age, income, education, and the like.
Question Type

Open-ended Questions
Open-ended questions provide no answer choices. They are easy to ask and allow for a wide
variety of responses, including the creative and unusual. Open-ended questions are especially
useful when you don’t know the likely values or cannot anticipate how the respondent will
respond. The information gathered by open-ended questions could then be used to develop
appropriate close-ended questions for another questionnaire.
These questions force the respondent to think and allow the respondent to clarify and explain
a response. If the respondent takes needed time and makes the effort, responses can be illuminating
and yield much useful information.

The response rate will be lower because the blank space is demanding and intimidating,
especially for those who don’t like to write. Illegible handwriting may be a problem.

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