Measuring Responses To Ideas

1. Measuring Responses To Ideas Survey research is focused on measuring people’s responses to various ideas, policy, or proposals

2. Measuring Responses To Ideas • The content of such questions are vast • Example • Do you favor or oppose the idea of sending U.S bombers to attack Antarctica? • Higher taxes generally hurt the rich and benefit the poor. Do you agree or disagree? • In general, would you like to have more money spent on the parks and playgrounds in your neighborhood area or not?

3. Measuring Responses To Ideas • All pervious questions ,the task they are asked to perform is to look at their own views, in all of their simplicity or complexity , compare them with statements ,and decide whether the distance between the statement and their own view is close enough for them to say they agree

4. Measuring Responses To Ideas • The standard for these question is The Question Should be Clear to All Respondents and the Response Task Should be One They are Able to Do

5. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Example • Do you favor or oppose gun control laws? • Problem Gun control laws can mean anything Gun control can differ from respondent to respondent

6. Measuring Responses To Ideas • The goal is to have differences in answers reflect differences in where people stand on the issues, rather than differences in their interpretations of the questions

7. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Example • Do you favor or oppose laws that would prevent people convicted of violent crimes from purchasing a handgun or pistol? • One kind of gun control law

8. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Example • Driving a car is not right , it’s privilege. • Problem • Two questions in a single question • Hard to interpret the answers mean

9. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Q1: To what extent do you think that driving a car is a right? • Q2: To what extent do you think that driving a car is a privilege?

10. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Example: • American is getting so far away from the true American way of life that force may be necessary to restore it Problem How far America is from true American way Whether or not need to be restored Whether or not to force

11. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Example: • I feel completely secure in facing unknown situations because my parent will never let me down Problem How secure one feels in new situations The reliability of the parents Whether or not to the two are related

12. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Two generalization 1. the words of the questions should be as well defined as possible to increase consistency of respondent understanding of the ideas 2. items should be carefully studied to make sure that only a single idea or question is being presented

13. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Response Task Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree

14. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Response Task Another approaches Completely agree Generally agree Generally disagree Completely disagree Another approaches Completely true Mostly true Mostly untrue Completely untrue

15. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Response Task Another approaches Completely agree Generally agree Generally disagree Completely disagree Another approaches Completely true Mostly true Mostly untrue Completely untrue

16. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Reasons why we should offer more than two categories • 1. Persons agreed or disagreed to some degree, and could not reach a conclusion about the tilt • 2. Don’t know enough about the question

17. Measuring Responses To Ideas • 2. Don’t know enough about the question • Example • The US should increase its foreign aid to Guatemala

18. Measuring Responses To Ideas • Measurement Properties Most analyst divide respondents into two categories • Cognitive Complexity Example I am not satisfied with my work Disagreeing to the statement is a complex way to say one is satisfied

19. Measuring Knowledge

20. Measuring Knowledge Knowledge is measured in four ways • Asking people to self-report what they know • True-False questions • Multiple choice questions • Open-ended-short-answer-question

21. Measuring Knowledge The goal of measuring knowledge • Identify people who think the are familiar enough with the topic to answer the question • Analyze whether those who feel informed think or behave differently from those who feel less informed

22. Measuring Knowledge Example Are you at all familiar with the proposal to control gun ownership? How much do you know about the new proposal to control gun Ownership A lot, some, little, or nothing at all?

23. Measuring Knowledge Example Have you heard or read about the proposals to control gun ownership? Have you discussed gun control with anyone? (Test the familiarity not accuracy )

24. Measuring Knowledge Type of question to measure knowledge • Multiple-choice questions • True-False question

25. Measuring Knowledge Features • Measure recognition rather than recall • Depends on the construction plausible wrong answer • Number right answers usually is an overestimate of the number of questions to which respondent know the answers

26. Measuring Knowledge Example • Who was the 13th president of the US? (adv: Right or wrong answer) (disadv: low estimate of active knowledge)

27. Measuring Knowledge Example Who was the 13th president of the US Millard Fillmore, Zachary Taylor, or John Taylor? Who was the 13th president of the US Millard Fillmore, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Nixon? (Second one is easier to pick the right answer than the first)

28. Questions