There Are Two Important Guidelines for When a Researcher Wishes

Question

Examlex · Accepted Answer

The Answer is Creating questions that are clear and meaningful is only half of the formula involved in creating a good survey instrument.The choices you provide respondents in closed-ended questions are also important.In this section, we provide you with several rules that will help to ensure that the response choices you provide to your questions will also be clear and concise as well as exhaustive.
Make Response Choices Mutually Exclusive
When you want respondents to make only one choice, the fixed-response categories must not overlap.For example, if you were interested in the ways foot patrol officers spent their time while working, you might ask the following question:
On average, how much time do you spend on the job each week taking care of traffic violations?

\bullet

Less than 1 hour

\bullet

1-3 hours

\bullet

3-6 hours

\bullet

6-10 hours

\bullet

10 hours or more
The choices provided for respondents in this question are not mutually exclusive responses because they overlap.Which choice would an officer select if he or she spent three hours a week on traffic violations? Choices that are mutually exclusive would look like this:

\bullet

1 hour or less

\bullet

2-3 hours

\bullet

4-6 hours

\bullet

7-10 hours

\bullet

11 hours or more
Make the Response Categories Exhaustive
In addition to mutual exclusivity, fixed-response categories must also allow all respondents to select an option.Consider the same research question about foot patrol officers.Suppose we asked a question such as this:
In what activity do you spend the most time in an average week on the job?

\bullet

traffic violations

\bullet

disturbance-related issues

\bullet

felony arrests

\bullet

misdemeanor arrests
Regardless of how exhaustive we think the response categories are, there must always be an option for respondents who require another choice.Exhaustive response categories can easily be created if respondents are provided with a choice labeled

\bullet

Other, please specify: ___________
Note, however, that "Other" should be used only after you have included all options that you believe to be relevant.Otherwise, a large percentage of respondents will select the "Other" category and you will have to spend time coding their responses.
Mutually exclusive responses -- Response choices on a survey that do not overlap.
Exhaustive responses -- A variable's attributes or values in which every case can be classified as having one attribute.

There Are Two Important Guidelines for When a Researcher Wishes

Definitions: