Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: More Successful Surveying
In the last column, we began a discussion of good practices in survey research, building on the insights provided by Floyd Fowler in his excellent books on writing and administering surveys. Mr. Fowler makes some very specific recommendations for wording survey responses based on his many years of experience and his review of research on collecting unbiased, accurate information. When discussing asking people to indicate the frequency of something, one of the sets of response options he provides is: Always, Usually, Sometimes, Rarely, Never. Allowing people completing a survey to select one of these answers makes both answering the question posed, and interpreting the data collected, more straightforward. When asking people their feelings about something, things get a little trickier. A set of verbal options that seems to work well, according to Fowler, is Delighted, Pleased, Mostly satisfied, Mixed, Mostly dissatisfied, Unhappy and Terrible. Arguments can be made for other …
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