Why is question ordering important when it comes to creating a well-designed survey? In your answer, please make sure that you explain the importance of the response set, saliency, redundancy, consistency, and fatigue.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The order in which questions are presented to respondents may influence the reliability and validity of answers. Researchers call this the question-order effect. In ordering questions, the researcher should consider the effect on the respondent of the previous question, the likelihood of the respondent’s completing the questionnaire, and the need to select groups of respondents for certain questions. The first several questions in a survey are usually designed to break the ice. They are general questions that are easy to answer. Complex, specific questions may cause respondents to terminate an interview or not complete a questionnaire because they think it will be too hard. Questions on personal or sensitive topics usually are left to the end. Otherwise, some respondents may suspect that the purpose of the survey is to check up on them rather than to find out public attitudes and activities in general. In some cases, however, it may be important to collect demographic information first. One problem to avoid is known as a response set, or straight-line responding. A response set may occur when a series of questions have the same answer choices. Respondents who find themselves agreeing with the first several statements may skim over subsequent statements and check “agree” on all. This is likely to happen if statements are on related topics. To avoid the response set phenomenon, statements should be worded so that respondents may agree with the first, disagree with the second, and so on. This way the respondents are forced to read each statement carefully before responding. Saliency is the effect that specific mention of an issue in a survey may have in causing a respondent to mention the issue in connection with a later question: the earlier question brings the issue forward in the respondent’s mind. Redundancy is the reverse of saliency. Some respondents, unwilling to repeat themselves, may not say crime is a problem in response to the general query if earlier they had indicated that crime was a problem. Respondents may also strive to appear consistent. An answer to a question may be constrained by an answer given earlier. Finally, fatigue may cause respondents to give perfunctory answers to questions late in the survey. In lengthy questionnaires, response set problems often arise due to fatigue. Question order also becomes an important consideration when the researcher uses a branching question, which sorts respondents into subgroups and directs these subgroups to different parts of the questionnaire, or a filter question, which screens respondents from inappropriate questions. A survey may sort people into several groups. For each group, a different set of questions may be appropriate. A filter question is typically used to prevent the uninformed from answering questions. Branching and filter questions increase the chances for interviewer­respondent error. Questions to be answered by all respondents may be missed. However, careful attention to questionnaire layout, clear instructions to the interviewer and the respondent, and well-ordered questions will minimize the possibility of confusion and lost or inappropriate information. Subject fatigue is always a problem in survey research. Thus, if a survey poses an inordinate number of questions or takes up too much of the respondents’ time, the respondents may lose interest or start answering without much thought or care. Or they may get distracted, impatient, or even hostile. And keeping people interested in the research is exactly what is needed.