ABSTRACT
Asking instruments, as pointed out in the previous Chapter, shake—i.e., generate unreliable answers—because: they produce symbolic and unrealistic answers, each type generates different results from identical questions, and they generate conflicting answers, nonresponse, and unrepresentative results. In addition, as discussed in this Chapter, there are three other ways asking instruments contribute to The Problem. (1) Wording of instruments’ questions skews answers, as do (2) formats of instruments. Also, (3) effects of question wording, formats, and other components of asking instruments on answers are tangled with each other and, in addition, effects of asking instruments are tangled with effects of other components of asking; such as asking settings. Consequently, the effects of any instrument component on answers cannot be specified or even known, making it impossible to determine the effect of any component on any answer and, thus, the extent to which a component has skewed an answer into Category One or Category Two.
