Question

Give two examples of poor questionnaire wording, and explain what is wrong with each question.

What’s wrong with the following questions? How do you like the flavor of this high-quality Maxwell House coffee? What do you think of the taste and texture of this Sara Lee coffee cake?

Answer 1

Poor Questionnaire:

A biased survey is one that encompasses errors caused by the design of the survey and its questions. It’s important for you, the survey creator, to create survey questions that don’t change the survey outcome. One of the biggest mistakes survey creators make is creating a question that leads respondents to give the “correct” answer. Leading questions negate your survey results, so you want to stay away from them at all costs.

Doesn't have correct formation not direct, since the structure is not clear and people may not feel comfortable answering those “private” questions.

Examples :

1. Have you recently tried and enjoyed the new Burger King Big King sandwich?" (Double questions and is leading)
2. "Many people have recently watched the movie, Titanic. Have you seen it?" Leading to bias
3. "How many days do you sleep until 8:00 a.m.

How do you like the flavor of this high-quality Maxwell House coffee? ( this doesn't have a clear structure and it is an introduced biased structure).

What do you think of the taste and texture of this Sara Lee coffee cake ( it uses little complex language and not suitable for questionnaire items it is an open-ended question with a narrow focus)