In Dutch, there is a small joke that people tell to children: “ork ork ork, soep eetje met een…” (which translates to: “ork ork ork, you eat soup using a…” Most children will initially say ‘vork’ (‘fork’), but of course the right answer is ‘lepel’ (‘spoon’)… and while most children know this, most answer incorrectly. The example above is a typical example of how order of presentation can influence an answer in a questionnaire.
Not so long ago I was phoned by a representative of the Dutch bureau of statistics, CBS. It was an interview about the volunteer work and my willingness to do more. After about 6 or 8 questions, like “Do you volunteer in work for a sports society?”, “Do you volunteer in work for elderly? “ … etc., a question was asked whether I’d like to do more volunteer work. Well, hell yes! I was feeling guilty after having answered so many times ‘no’ to ‘little’ to each of the questions she was asking. Yes, I think everyone has a responsibility to do something back to society when they’re able to do so… but that’s not the point I want to make: if you want to obtain information by questioning people: think about the order of presenting the questions/information!
So next time, just try to ask, what do you use to eat your soup? And everyone will probably correctly answer ‘spoon’… then if you like, you can always continue with your ‘ork ork ork ork’-questions….. or better, randomize when you’re uncertain whether order influences the results!
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Dit artikel van murblog van Maarten Brouwers (murb) is in licentie gegeven volgens een Creative Commons Naamsvermelding 3.0 Nederland licentie .