The Listener Survey Toolkit
Chapter 5
Should the same questions be asked more than once in a survey?

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
Asking the same question in several ways is a technique that can increase confidence in survey results, and is recommended particularly for issues most vital to the station. A critical question can occur two or three times in a survey for verification of a particular topic. For example, if a station is considering dropping a program, several related questions might be asked in a survey, such as:

  • How often do you listen to this program?
  • Are you listening more, less, or about the same amount to this program, compared to a year ago?
  • Compared to all the programs you listen to on this station, is this program one of your favorites, one that you like better than average, one that's just Okay, or one that you dislike?
  • If the station stopped carrying this program, what influence would it have on the likelihood of your support next year? Would you be much more likely, more likely, less likely, or much less likely to contribute?

Since a survey has a finite length, asking similar questions more than once also must be balanced with the need to gather a wider variety of information.

There is a tendency for many stations to want to ask every question they can think of on a survey. It's generally much more valuable to have certainty and confidence in the results of a more narrowly focused survey than to ask many questions that just skim the surface with the results providing breadth but not depth of information.

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