I’ve been teaching Questionnaire Design at the University of Michigan’s Summer Institute in Survey Research Techniques, and I’m finding it hugely fun for a few reasons: 1. My students are

Share

I love this scene from Annie Hall, where Annie and Alvin are telling their respective therapists how often they have sex. Alvin: Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week. Annie: Constantly. I’d say three

Share

A friend just pointed me to this article on a Washington Post survey of local issues in my hometown of Washington, D.C.  Seems there’s a little hullaballoo about the framing of the survey results—namely,

Share
Test the Water Before you Jump: The Importance of Pre-testing

I’m always surprised (and frankly, a little alarmed) when clients don’t want to pre-test a questionnaire. This strikes me as a little bit like launching an ad campaign without testing the content.

Share
Open Ended Questions: A Cautionary Tale

When I teach Survey Design Boot Camp, I like to remind students that open ended questions are like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get. I

Share

I meet a lot of people who tell me their company or organization can’t afford research. I almost always tell them,  “Actually, you can’t afford NOT to do research! What kind

Share

 When I ventured out to work on my own, I was really excited about working from home. I quickly learned, though, that working alone all the time is not for

Share

I recently did a week-long juice fast at a wellness center.  Upon arrival, I was handed a questionnaire asking about my eating habits and how often I suffered from each

Share

Survey design is a linguistically intense undertaking.  Every respondent should get the same meaning from your questions—and it should be the meaning you had in mind when you wrote the

Share