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Advanced questionnaire design
BOOK REVIEWS
40s
Advanced Questionnaire Design, by Patricia J. Labaw. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Abt Books, 1981, 283 pp., $14.00 (hardcover). The strength of this book lies in its practical advice about writing questionnaires which attempt to ascertain people’s likely future behavior. The author has a strong market research orientation, and her main interest is in being able to tell clients what their customers are likely to do in particular circumstances. Given that orientation, the measurement of attitudes and beliefs is downplayed in favor of asking respondents about specific knowledge and behavior which may yield clues to their future actions. Also emphasized is the importance of viewing a questionnaire as an integrated whole, and of constructing questions in a manner that will help respondents think about issues,
organize their thoughts, and provide accurate answers. It is not a book for one interested in the structure of belief and attitude systems, or in the rigorous construction of psychometrically valid scales. The book does deal thoughtfully with the need for specific hypotheses as guides for questionnaire construction, with the importance of careful assessment of the reasons for constructing the questionnaire, and with ways to give clients information about the likely behavior of specific populations. The advice is practical and the writing is clear. J. A. M.
40s
Advanced Questionnaire Design, by Patricia J. Labaw. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Abt Books, 1981, 283 pp., $14.00 (hardcover). The strength of this book lies in its practical advice about writing questionnaires which attempt to ascertain people’s likely future behavior. The author has a strong market research orientation, and her main interest is in being able to tell clients what their customers are likely to do in particular circumstances. Given that orientation, the measurement of attitudes and beliefs is downplayed in favor of asking respondents about specific knowledge and behavior which may yield clues to their future actions. Also emphasized is the importance of viewing a questionnaire as an integrated whole, and of constructing questions in a manner that will help respondents think about issues,
organize their thoughts, and provide accurate answers. It is not a book for one interested in the structure of belief and attitude systems, or in the rigorous construction of psychometrically valid scales. The book does deal thoughtfully with the need for specific hypotheses as guides for questionnaire construction, with the importance of careful assessment of the reasons for constructing the questionnaire, and with ways to give clients information about the likely behavior of specific populations. The advice is practical and the writing is clear. J. A. M.