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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Fail: Poor Question and Response Designs in Marketing Research

"And this is where my brain exploded" Posted by Alison MacLeod on Feb 18, 2011 in Rants, Usability | View Comments

"Half-way through a serious-minded survey on Internet use by a terribly reputable research provider, I reach this question.  Reproduced here in its entirety.

Which one of the following statements best describes how you use the internet to express opinions or share information with other people? Please select one only.
  • omg_crop

Quick, at the back, HOW MANY problems can you spot with this question? … 
1. Asking two questions in one 
2. Giving twenty-five options 
3. Many of the options don’t relate to the questions (how can ‘listening to a podcast’  be classified as ‘sharing’ or ‘expressing an opinion’??) 
4. Let’s just say that this reveals a very peculiar mental model of internet use 
5. Twenty-five options. 

The memory load is just astounding – you have to hold 2 questions and 25 options in your mind.  I had forgotten the first couple by the time I got to the middle. What’s more, it’s not that my memory is failing.  My utter lack of recall is supported by science. "

Students - this one would make us laugh if we weren't crying, but take heed - question development is serious!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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