QUESTIONNAIRES

I NTHElasttwochapterstheprincipalwaysofcollectingsurveydata,mailquestionnairesandpersonalinterviews,havebeen discussed.Wenowturntotheinstrumentonwhichbothap-

proachesdepend,thequestionnaireorrecordingschedule. Asbrieflynotedabove,thesetwotermsaresometimesusedto

distinguishbetweenthesituationinwhichtherespondenthimself fillsintheanswersandthatinwhichaninterviewerasksthequestions andrecordstheanswers. 1Tothesurveydesignerthedistinctionis important,forinonecaseheisproducingadocumenttobeused and,hehopes,understoodbytherespondentunaided,whileinthe othertheuserswillbepersonsespeciallytrainedtohandlesuch documents.ThequestionnaireusedintheGovernmentSocial Survey'sradioandtelevisionenquiry,whichwasreferredtoin ChapterII,isagoodexamplecftheformertypeandisreproduced onpp.305-7. 2Inthisenquiryanexperimentwascarriedoutonthe wordingofthecoveringletter;halfthesampleweresentarelatively impersonalletterandtheotherhalfarelativelypersonalone.There wasnosignificantdifferenceintheresponserateforthetwohalves ofthesample.Inbothcasestheletterisbrief,butcoverstheessential points:theletterheadingindicatesthesponsorshipoftheenquiry, andthecontentsinformtherespondentsofthesubjectofthe enquiryandofthefactthattheyrepresentacross-sectionofthe populationandtellthemclearlywhattheyareaskedtodo.The questionnaireitselfiscarefullyandclearlylaidout,withboldtype

304 SURVEY METHODS IN SOCIAL INVESTIGATION

and capitals being widely used to emphasize particular words and instructions.1 What is more, the questions themselves are simple and it looks as if a genuine effort was made to keep them to a minimum.