Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Survey...
Words of Advice, Words of Caution
Cannell C, Oksenberg I, Kalton G, Bischoping K & Fowler F. (1989). New Techniques in Pretesting
Survey Questions (NCHSR #HS 05616). Survey Research Center, University of Michigan.
Cognitive Burden & Recall
Demand
Recall accuracy is influenced by a variety
of factors, including:
salience/vividness of behavior,
time frame,
complexity of response information necessary
(ever, counts, close-ended categories, etc.),
frequency and consistency of behavior,
effort respondent is willing to exert,
cueing techniques and prompts
Time Frame - Sexual/Drug
Use Behaviors
3 month time frame generally considered the
outside range of accurate reporting; some
suggest limiting to 1 month.
Longer time frame may be possible if asking
if a behavior ever happened.
One important timeframe consideration is
dealing with infrequent behaviors -- what do
you want to capture with respect to either
behavior events or possible behavior change
(if longitudinal study)?
Sensitivity
Item sensitivity not consistent across populations
(e.g., sexual behavior among MSM vs. general
population, drug use behavior among heavy
drug abusers/IDUs, discussing sexuality among
different ethnic groups).
Rationale for sensitive questions helps response
rates.
Asking if “ever” occurred first, prior to asking
about (for example) the last month, may be less
charged for respondent.
Importance of neutral wording of question and (if
IAQ) careful training of interviewer
In Closing ...
Selecting your methods of data collection must be
carefully considered based upon target population,
study questions and design, and costs.
No matter what the method of data collection, your
instrument is critical.
Survey design is a combination of art and science,
with the “art” strongly reliant upon interviewing skills.
The science of survey design currently has a wealth of
research literature to examine and guide you.