PRC Survey Design & Administration 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is a 'screener question' in survey design?
- A question used to check data quality at the end of a survey
- A question used to determine if a respondent qualifies for the study (Correct answer)
- A question that filters out socially desirable responses
- A question placed first to reduce primacy effects
Correct answer: A question used to determine if a respondent qualifies for the study
Screener questions identify whether a potential respondent meets the eligibility criteria before they proceed to the main survey.
Question 2: Which administration mode typically achieves the highest response rate for general population surveys?
- Web/online surveys
- Mail surveys
- Telephone (CATI) surveys
- In-person/face-to-face interviews (Correct answer)
Correct answer: In-person/face-to-face interviews
Face-to-face interviews consistently achieve the highest response rates, though they are also the most expensive to administer.
Question 3: A question reads: 'Don't you agree that this product is excellent?' This is an example of which survey flaw?
- Double-barreled question
- Leading question (Correct answer)
- Ambiguous question
- Loaded question
Correct answer: Leading question
Leading questions nudge respondents toward a particular answer by embedding an expectation or preferred response in the wording.
Question 4: In Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), what is the main advantage of skip logic?
- It reduces interviewer wages
- It automatically routes respondents to appropriate questions based on prior answers (Correct answer)
- It eliminates the need for a sampling frame
- It increases the length of the interview
Correct answer: It automatically routes respondents to appropriate questions based on prior answers
Skip logic in CATI systems automatically navigates interviewers to relevant follow-up questions, reducing errors and irrelevant questions.
Question 5: What is the 'funnel technique' in questionnaire design?
- Starting with broad general questions and narrowing to specific ones (Correct answer)
- Starting with specific questions and broadening to general topics
- Alternating between open-ended and closed-ended questions
- Grouping all sensitive questions at the end
Correct answer: Starting with broad general questions and narrowing to specific ones
The funnel technique begins with broad questions to avoid priming respondents and then narrows toward more specific items.
Question 6: Which of the following is NOT a recommended practice for formatting a paper-based survey?
- Using consistent font sizes
- Including clear section headers
- Cramming multiple questions per line to save space (Correct answer)
- Providing adequate white space
Correct answer: Cramming multiple questions per line to save space
Cramming questions together increases cognitive load and errors; adequate spacing and clean layout improve comprehension and data quality.
Question 7: What is the key distinction between a 'census' and a 'sample survey'?
- A census uses probability sampling; a sample survey does not
- A census collects data from every member of the population; a sample survey collects from a subset (Correct answer)
- A sample survey is more expensive than a census
- A census is only used for government research
Correct answer: A census collects data from every member of the population; a sample survey collects from a subset
A census attempts to enumerate every element of the population, while a sample survey collects data from a representative subset.
PRC Survey Design & Administration 3
What is a 'screener question' in survey design?