The Listener Survey Toolkit
Chapter 5
Common problems in question construction

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview
Why Conduct a Listener or Member Survey
Research Myths and Misconceptions
Building the Survey
Survey Methodology
Survey Questions
Processing the Data
Data Analysis and Reporting
Applying the Survey Results
Station Service and Support for the Listener Survey Toolkit
Sample Questions
As you decide what your station needs to know, you'll begin the process of crafting survey questions. There are many ways that an incorrectly crafted question can bias the results. You are encouraged to use and adapt some of the sample questions included with this Toolkit, but if you write any of your own questions, here are some typical question construction errors.

FOCUS

Wrong: Which station do you like the best?
Right: Which station do you listen to the most?

BREVITY

Wrong: Can you tell me how many children are in your family, whether they are girls or boys, and how old they are?
Right: What are the age and sex of each of your children?

CLARITY

Wrong: What do you think about listening to the radio at work?
Right: What percentage of your time at work do you spend listening to radio?

VOCABULARY

Wrong: Are you cognizant of all the on-line options available to you?
Right: Do you know about all the on-line options available to you?

SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION

Wrong: How do you work it out when your spouse wants to listen to one radio station, you want to listen to another, and you both feel very strongly about it?
Right: What station do you usually listen to when you listen to the radio with your spouse?

UNSTATED CRITERIA

Wrong: How important is it that an announcer sounds friendly?
Right: How important is it to you that an announcer sounds friendly?

AMBIGUOUS WORDS

Wrong: About what time do you ordinarily eat dinner?
Right: About what time do you ordinarily dine in the evening?

LEADING QUESTIONS

Wrong: Don't you see danger in "shock radio" programs?
Right: Do you see any danger in so-called "shock radio" programs?

LOADED QUESTIONS

Wrong: Do you advocate stricter censorship to stop obscene radio programs?
Right: Do you agree that the content of radio programs should be censored?

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