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Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys
Experiments on Question Form, Wording, and Context
- Howard Schuman - Anthropology, University of Michigan, Emeritus
- Stanley Presser - University of Maryland, USA
June 1996 | 392 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
`Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys makes an enormous contribution to the field of survey methodology and ranks with such classics as Hyman's Interviewing and Kish's Survey Sampling. To the extent that survey research is only as reliable as its methodology, this book becomes a long-missing foundation stone for the social sciences in general' - Tom Smith, American Journal of Sociology
`The prodigious work of Schuman and Presser... demonstrates that question wording cannot be isolated from theory or the context of specific issues' - Angell Beza, Contemporary Sociology
This book pioneers a new state of the art for conducting research on the form, wording, and context of questions asked in attitude surveys.
The authors demonstrate the centrality of question wording, and its intimate relationship with theory and the context of specific issues.
Scope and Method
Question Order and Response Order
Open versus Closed Questions
The Assessment of No Opinion
The Fine Line between Attitudes and Nonattitudes
Measuring a Middle Position
Balance and Imbalance in Questions
The Acquiescence Quagmire
Passionate Attitudes
Attitude Strength and the Concept of Crystallization
Tone of Wording
Some Final Thoughts on Survey Research and Research on Surveys
Appendix A: Mysteries of Replication and Non-Replication
Appendix B: Special Sampling and Interviewing Problems
Appendix C: Education and Information Measures
Appendix D: Additional Items and Codes Bearing on Acquiescence
"The book is virtually a treasure chest for the survey methodologist and the survey practitioner."
Journal of Official Statistics