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12-2McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,All Rights

Reserved.

Part ThreeSOURCES AND

COLLECTION OF DATA

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Chapter TwelveINSTRUMENTS OF

PARTICIPANT COMMUNICATION

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Instrument Design Process

• Phase 1: Developing the instrument design strategy

• Phase 2: Constructing and refining the measurement questions

• Phase 3: Drafting and refining the instrument

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Developing the Instrument Design Strategy

• Management-Research Question Hierarchy:

– The management problem/question

– Research question(s)

– Investigative questions

– Measurement questions

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Strategic Concerns of Instrument Design

• What type of data is needed to answer the management question?

• What communication approach will be used?

• Should the questions be structured, unstructured, or some combination?

• Should the questions be disguised or undisguised?

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Ways to Interact with the Participant

• Personal interview

• Telephone

• Mail

• Computer

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Types of Measurement Questions?

• Target

• Classification

• Administrative

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Appropriate Question Content

• Should this question be asked?

• Is the question of proper scope and coverage?

• Can the participant adequately answer this question, as asked?

• Will the participant willingly answer this question, as asked?

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How to Test a Respondent’s Appropriateness

• Filter questions

• Screen questions

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Question Wording Criteria

• Is the question stated in terms of a shared vocabulary?

• Does the question contain vocabulary with a single meaning?

• Does the question contain unsupported assumptions?

• Is the question correctly personalized?• Are adequate alternatives presented within the

question?

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What Dictates Your Response Strategy?

• Characteristics of participants

• Nature of the topic(s) being studied

• Type of data needed

• Your analysis plan

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Types of Response Questions

• Free-response

• Dichotomous

• Multiple-choice

• Checklist

• Rating

• Ranking

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Guidelines to Refining the Instrument

• Awaken the participant's interest

• Use buffer questions as a guide to request sensitive information

• Use the funnel approach to move to more specific questions

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Improving Survey Results

• Pretesting is an established practice for discovering errors and useful for training the research team