Fail: Poor Question and Response Designs in Marketing Research

Students - we've been talking about question design and response options in class recently. Granted, much can go wrong as we try to develop the perfect question and response categories. But here we have an example from Alison (at the human element.co.uk) that really shows how wrong things can go. I repost below from her blog with her analysis of what's gone wrong. 

"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.

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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!

• tags: research question design mr

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.