Question

STATISTICS

When you write questions for a survey, it is important to be sure that the questions are not biased. That is, the questions should not assume anything or influence the answers. The following two questionnaires are designed to find out what kind of books your classmates like and what they like to do in the summer. The first questionnaire uses biased questions. The second questionnaire uses questions that are not biased.

Survey I

A. What mystery novel is your favorite?

B. What TV programs do you like to watch in the summer?

Survey 2

A. What kind of books do you like to read?
B. What do you like to do in the summer?
Check It Out
1. Why is A in Survey 1 biased?

2. Why is B in Survey 2 better than B in Survey 1?

3. Write a question that asks the same thing as the following question but is not biased: Are you an interesting person who reads a lot of books?

Answer 1

1. The question in A in Survey 1 is biased because it assumes that the respondent likes mystery novels. It does not give the respondent the option to say that they do not like mystery novels or that they have a different favorite genre.

2. B in Survey 2 is better than B in Survey 1 because it is an open-ended question that does not assume anything about the respondent's summer activities. It allows the respondent to answer freely and provide their own answers.

3. A non-biased question that asks the same thing as "Are you an interesting person who reads a lot of books?" could be: "How often do you read books?" This question does not assume anything about the respondent's level of interestingness and simply asks about their reading habits.