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
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
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,
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.
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
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
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
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
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
