Full Test Bank Survey Research Schutt Chapter 9

Chapter 09

1. Survey research in social work collects information from a sample of individuals through their responses to standardized questions.

a. True

b. False

2. Many researchers believe that at least a 50 percent response rate must be achieved in order to be reasonably confident that the survey results will be representative of the population from which the survey sample was selected.

a. True

b. False

3. Questions that actually pose two questions are referred to as a double-barrelled question.

a. True

b. False

4. The following is an example of a well designed question: Do you agree or disagree that taxes should not be raised again this year?

a. True

b. False

5. A contingency question creates a skip pattern.

a. True

b. False

6. In an open-ended question responses are mutually exclusive.

a. True

b. False

7. Socially desirable responses are a common problem in electronic surveys.

a. True

b. False

8. The following question appeared in a survey: “Do you agree or disagree with the statement, More taxes should be spent on welfare.” This is an example of a leading question.

a. True

b. False

9. In survey questions, when response choices fall on a continuum, the number of positive and negative response categories should be equal.

a. True

b. False

10. Fence-sitters are people who are neutral but will choose an answer if not given a neutral response choice.

a. True

b. False

11. In surveys, ALL questions’ response choices must be mutually exclusive and exhaustive.

a. True

b. False

12. The survey instrument used in an in-person interview is known as a questionnaire.

a. True

b. False

13. Interpretive questions are less important on surveys that have not been thoroughly pretested.

a. True

b. False

14. Mailed surveys, phone surveys, and electronic surveys are usually self-administered.

a. True

b. False

15. Cognitive interviews are done to find out how the respondent understood the question.

a. True

b. False

16. A context effect refers to how questions on a survey influence how subsequent questions are interpreted.

a. True

b. False

17. The central concern in a mailed survey is maximizing the response rate.

a. True

b. False

18. Cover letters should be distributed to respondents in a group-administered survey.

a. True

b. False

19. Unlisted numbers in phone surveys create a major selection bias, especially with random-digit-dialing.

a. True

b. False

20. Survey research organizations have increased the usual number of phone contact attempts from 4-8 to 20.

a. True

b. False

21. High income people tend to participate less in surveys about income and economic behavior.

a. True

b. False

22. Electronic surveys can be either sent via e-mail or posted on a website.

a. True

b. False

23. The most important drawback to electronic surveys is the large fraction of households that are not yet connected to the Internet.

a. True

b. False

24. In-person interviews are the strongest survey design and are preferable when sufficient resources and a trained staff is available.

a. True

b. False

25. Anonymity requires that no identifying information is EVER recorded to link respondents with their responses.

a. True

b. False

26. Decentering is a method for making different language versions of a survey.

a. True

b. False

27. Match the key term with its description:

[d] 1. Double-barreled question

[c] 2. Filter question

[b] 3. Fence sitter

[a] 4. Floater

a. Person who chooses a survey answer but does not really know

b. Person who chooses a neutral response

c. Question that creates a skip pattern

d. Two questions in one

28. Match the key term with its description:

[d] 1. Interview schedule

[c] 2. Cognitive interview

[b] 3. Interpretive questions

[a] 4. Context effects

a. The influence of question order on how questions are answered

b. Questions added to a survey to help interpret respondents’ answers

c. Follow-up questions to see how a question was interpreted by respondents

d. A set of questions used for an in-person or phone survey

29. Survey research is most appropriate when which of the following is a central research goal?

a. Measurement validity

b. Causal validity

c. Internal validity

d. Sample generalizability

e. Cross-population generalizability

30. Advantages of survey research include which of the following?

a. Versatility

b. Efficiency

c. Generalizability

d. All of the above

e. a and b only

31. Which of the following is NOT an error of nonobservation?

a. Nonresponse can distort the sample when individuals refuse to respond.

b. Nonresponse can distort the sample when individuals cannot be contacted.

c. Coverage of the population is inadequate due to a poor sampling frame.

d. Cases that have been surveyed are subject to poor measurement.

e. The process of random sampling can result in sampling error.

32. The single most important concern for survey researchers is:

a. Sampling

b. Generalizability

c. Causal validity

d. Selecting good questions

e. Response rate

33. If you think people have an opinion but are reluctant to express it, it is a good idea to use which type of questions?

a. Contingency questions

b. Forced choice questions

c. Matrix questions

d. Filter questions

e. Ambiguous questions

34. Behavior coding involves which of the following?

a. Coding the number of times that difficulties occur with survey questions.

b. Assigning codes to different forms of behavior in experiments.

c. Assigning neutral codes to socially unacceptable behaviors.

d. Coding artifacts, such as newspaper articles, according to behavioral characteristics.

e. Asking respondents to think out loud when answering a survey question.

35. Interpretative questions are most useful during which part of survey research?

Questionnaire design

Precoding

Pretesting

First mailing

36. A good way to determine if a questionnaire contains a context effect is to:

a. Present questions in matrix format

b. Properly train interviewers to maintain consistency

c. Comparing reverse question order in a split ballot design

d. Have multiple interviewers conduct surveys with a small sample of original respondents

e. Have interviewer record contextual variables while completing a survey

37. Six to eight weeks after an initial survey mailing, a survey researcher should do which of the following to attempt to get nonrespondents to complete their survey?

a. Send a reminder postcard or a new envelope

b. Send a letter reminding people to reply

c. Call to make sure respondents received their surveys

d. Send a token financial reward

e. Use a different mode of delivery or administer the questionnaire over the phone

38. A computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) has all of the characteristics below EXCEPT:

a. The questionnaire is programmed into a computer

b. Relevant skip patterns are programmed into a computer

c. Only legal entries are allowed to questions

d. The system incorporates the tasks of interviewing and data entry

e. A computer randomly dials digits of a specified telephone exchange

39. Which of the following is NOT a problem for maximizing response rates in in-person interview?

a. Respondent may be interrupted or distracted and fail to complete interview.

b. Difficulty in finding all the members of a sample.

c. Contact rates vary by location and household size.

d. Refusal rates vary with individual characteristics like education.

e. General disillusionment in a society can undermine the general credibility of research efforts.

40. Interactive Voice Response surveys require which of the following:

a. Access to the Internet

b. Access to e-mail

c. Access to a telephone

d. Access to a fax machine

e. Access to the interviewer

41. If sufficient resources and a trained staff are available, which survey design is almost always preferable?

a. Mailed surveys

b. Group surveys

c. Phone surveys

d. In-person interviews

e. Electronic surveys

42. Group surveys differ from other types of surveys in the following way:

a. Respondents do not fill out the questionnaires themselves.

b. The cost of group surveys is usually prohibitively high.

c. The questionnaire is distributed to more than one respondent at a time.

d. An interviewer reads the questions to the respondent.

e. The questionnaire can be loosely structured.

43. Anonymity exists when:

a. Researchers limit information about respondents to trained staff

b. No identifying information is ever collected to link respondent to responses

c. The sample of respondents in a survey is selected purely by random

d. The researcher only uses numbers to connect respondent identity to responses

e. The respondent explicitly waives his or her right to confidentiality

44. In a survey, a contingent question always follows a/an

a. Double-barreled question

b. Double-negative question

c. Open-ended question

d. Interpretive question

e. Filter question

45. Filter questions are used primarily to:

a. Select individuals for participation in surveys.

b. Limit certain survey questions to competent subgroups of respondents.

c. Investigate how respondents interpret questions.

d. Assess social and physical context of administration.

e. Allow undecided respondents to select a neutral response

46. You want to conduct a national survey to examine older adult attitudes regarding social service utilization. Unfortunately, you have limited financial resources for conducting the survey. Your best option is a(n):

a. Email survey.

b. In-person interview

c. Web survey.

d. Mailed survey.

e. Group survey.

47. The best way to improve response rates on a mailed survey is:

a. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

b. Write an attractive questionnaire.

c. Use different formatting to distinguish instructions.

d. Send follow-up letters and replacement questionnaires.

e. Include your contact information in a personalized cover letter.

48. The design of the overall questionnaire is important. Researchers should attend to all of the following features of questionnaire construction except:

a. Maintain a consistent focus throughout

b. Get external feedback so you can refine questions

c. Sort questions into thematic categories to be included in separate sections

d. Make the questionnaire attractive

49. In a phone survey or an in-person survey, the list of questions is referred to as:

a. Questionnaire

b. Interview survey

c. Interview schedule

d. Interpretive questions

e. Key informant interview

50. Asking subjects “Did your children go to high school and college?” violates which of the following criteria in question construction?

a. Avoid double-barreled questions.

b. Avoid sensitive question.

c. Avoid biased items.

d. Avoid leading questions

51. The skip pattern in a survey is created by:

a. Contingency questions

b. Open-ended questions

c. Filter questions

d. Skip questions

52. An in-person interview can never guarantee:

a. Validity

b. Reliability

c. Anonymity

d. Confidentiality

53. What guideline does the following question violate in terms of guidelines for writing questions: Do you disagree that there should not be an exam on Chapter 6?

a. Avoid double negatives

b. Avoid double-barreled questions

c. Minimize risk of biased words

d. Avoid making disagreement or agreement disagreeable

e. Minimize fence sitting and floating

54. Telling an interviewer what the respondent thinks the interviewer wants to hear is:

a. An acquiescence bias.

b. Giving a socially desirable response.

c. A response set.

d. A leading response

55. Which of the following has research shown to occur when an interviewer and a respondent differ in terms of race or social distance?

a. The response rate drops substantially.

b. The quality of data increases.

c. More socially acceptable answers are obtained.

d. Interviewer and respondent characteristics have shown no consistent effects on interviews.

56. The popularity of survey research is due to:

a. Control over extraneous influences in the mode

b. Versatility, efficiency, and the generalizability of results

c. The anonymity guaranteed research subject by the investigator

d. Relatively high degree of population turnover

e. Its ability to establish causation convincingly

57. When attempting to construct culturally sensitive instruments when research subjects do not speak English well, researchers should:

a. Use bilingual interviewers.

b. Translate the questions into the language of respondents.

c. Pretest the questions

d. Use back-translation

e. All of the above

58. A “telescoping effect” is a problem of:

a. Memory

b. Agreement

c. Vague question

d. Response set

59. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using an in-person survey, compared to a self-administered survey and a telephone survey.

In-person interview advantages—response rates are higher than with any other survey design; questionnaires can be complex, with both open-ended and closed-ended questions and frequent branching patterns, the order in which questions are read and answered can be controlled by the interviewer, the physical and social circumstances of the interview can be monitored, and respondents' interpretations of questions can be probed and clarified; in-person interview disadvantages—special hazards due to the presence of an interviewer, more expensive, and trained staff needed to do the interviews; self-administered survey advantages—cheaper and can reach more people within the population; self-administered survey disadvantages—low response rate and the hazard of incomplete response (skipping questions); telephone survey advantages—cheaper and can reach more people than in-depth interviews; telephone survey disadvantages—may not be reaching the proper sampling units and not getting enough complete responses to make the results generalizable.

60. Why are surveys so popular in social work research?

versatility, efficiency, and generalizability

61. What is the difference between anonymity and confidentiality? When is each appropriate? What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with each?

Anonymity—provided by research in which no identifying information is recorded that could be used to link respondents to their responses; may not be appropriate in in-person surveys since interviewers know the name and address of the respondent. However, they can be used in telephone surveys and mail surveys where names can be replaced by numbers; confidentiality—provided by research in which identifying information that could be used to link respondents to their responses is available only to designated research personnel for specific research needs; should be used to protect a respondent’s identity from people outside the research personnel. Only numbers should be used to identify respondents on their questionnaires and the researcher should keep the names that correspond to these numbers in a safe, private location.

62. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of electronic surveys?

Web survey advantages—many specific populations have very high rates of Internet use, technological advances make web-based survey design relatively easy, and it is possible to conduct large, international surveys; disadvantages—cannot reach many populations since about 30 percent of American households are still not connected to the internet, people may have more than one e-mail account and thus take the same survey multiple times, and there is no available method for drawing random samples of e-mail addresses for people from any general population

63. Describe in detail how response rates can be improved for mailed surveys.

Mail a brief letter to the respondents that notifies them of the importance of the survey they are to receive a few days before the survey is mailed; send the questionnaire with a well-designed, personalized cover letter; send a reminder postcard, thanking respondents and reminding non-respondents; send a replacement questionnaire with a new cover letter to non-respondents; 6 to 8 weeks later, attempt a phone survey

64. Describe four different ways that surveys can be administered? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

In-person interview—a survey in which an interviewer questions respondents face-to-face and records their answers; in-person interview advantages—response rates are higher than with any other survey design; questionnaires can be complex, with both open-ended and closed-ended questions and frequent branching patterns, the order in which questions are read and answered can be controlled by the interviewer, the physical and social circumstances of the interview can be monitored, and respondents' interpretations of questions can be probed and clarified; in-person interview disadvantages—special hazards due to the presence of an interviewer, more expensive, and trained staff needed to do the interviews; self-administered (mailed). survey—a survey involving a mailed questionnaire to be completed by the respondent; self-administered survey advantages—cheaper and can reach more people within the population; self-administered survey disadvantages—low response rate and the hazard of incomplete response (skipping questions); telephone survey—a survey in which interviewers question respondents over the phone and then record their answers; telephone survey advantages—cheaper and can reach more people than in-depth interviews; telephone survey disadvantages—may not be reaching the proper sampling units and not getting enough complete responses to make the results generalizable; web survey—a survey that is accessed and responded to on the Internet; web survey advantages—many specific populations have very high rates of Internet use, technological advances make web-based survey design relatively easy, and it is possible to conduct large, international surveys; disadvantages—cannot reach many populations since about 30 percent of American households are still not connected to the internet, people may have more than one e-mail account and thus take the same survey multiple times, and there is no available method for drawing random samples of e-mail addresses for people from any general population; group-administered survey—a survey that is completed by individual respondents who are assembled in a group; group-administered survey advantages—can be used to access populations such as students, employees, members of the armed forces, and some institutionalized populations; group-administered survey disadvantages—this method is seldom feasible, most populations cannot be sampled in such a setting, whoever is responsible for administering the survey to the group must be careful to minimize comments that might bias answers or that could vary between different groups in the same survey, and there is a possibility that respondents will feel coerced to participate and will be less likely to answer questions honestly.

65. Some shelters for homeless people do not allow surveys of the persons who are staying in their shelters-not by outside researchers or by the shelter staff themselves. Representatives of these shelters argue that surveys invade the privacy of shelter users and are inherently coercive. Do you agree? Discuss the pros and cons of this argument. What, if any, merit a ban on surveys? Consider the characteristics of potential respondents as well as the focus and sponsorship of the survey. Discuss how a similar argument might apply in situations where students are asked to take surveys in a class?

Varies.

66. Why are errors of nonobservation critical in survey research? Describe what these errors are and how different survey techniques attempt to compensate for them.

Without careful attention to sampling, measurement, and overall survey design, the effort is not likely to be effective; poor measurement—presenting clear and interesting questions in a well-organized questionnaire will help reduce measurement error by encouraging respondents to answer questions carefully and to take seriously the request to participate in the survey; nonresponse—the perceived benefits of survey participation have declined with decreasing levels of civic engagement and with longer work hours, perceived costs have increased with the widespread use of telemarketing and the ability of many people to screen out calls from unknown parties with answering machines and caller ID; inadequate coverage of the population—a poor sampling frame can invalidate the results of an otherwise well-designed study; sampling error—the process of random sampling can result in differences between the characteristics of the sample members and the population simply on the basis of chance.