Comprehension Probes

1. Comprehension Probes

2. Comprehension Probes • Example • In the past month, how many times you seen or talked with a medical doctor about your health? [ this question is designed to include telephone conversation with physician , in addition to the office visit , and all kinds of medical specialties]

3. Comprehension Probes • Example • In the past month, how many times you seen or talked with a medical doctor about your health? [ Researchers might wonder whether respondents understood the scope of the question ]

4. Comprehension Probes • Example • In the past month, how many times you seen or talked with a medical doctor about your health? Solution A series of follow up question might be asked

5. Comprehension Probes • Example • Did the number you gave me include any occasions when you obtained medical advice from a physician on the telephone, rather than seeing the physician in person? • In the last month, were there any occasions, when you talked with a physician on the telephone about your health?

6. Comprehension Probes • Example • If you had talked with physician about your health on the telephone during the past month, do you think you would have reported it in answer to that question? • Did the number you gave me include any visits to a psychiatrists?

7. Using Narrative Answers • Example • How many novels you had read in the past year? • Researcher wonder if the respondent knew what a novel was.

8. Using Narrative Answers • Example • How many novels you had read in the past year? • Solution • You said that in the past year you had read about (Number) novel. I wonder if you could tell me the names of some of the novels that you have read?

9. Using Narrative Answers • Example • How many novels you had read in the past year? • Solution • You said that in the past year you had read about (Number) novel. I wonder if you could tell me the names of some of the novels that you have read?

10. Using Narrative Answers • Example • How many novels you had read in the past year? • Result • The results showed that about 25% of the books that respondents thought were novel in fact were nonfiction

11. Using Narrative Answers • Example • Overall, how would you rate your health excellent , very good, good, fair, or poor? • Researchers want to know how healthy the person is.

12. Using Narrative Answers • Example • Overall, how would you rate your health excellent , very good, good, fair, or poor? • When you said that your health was (PREVIOUS ANSWER), what did you take into account or think about in making that rating?

13. Using Narrative Answers • Example • Overall, how would you rate your health excellent , very good, good, fair, or poor? • People used a variety of criteria for assessing their health, such as their lifestyle, exercising , or presence of any conditions that might affect their function

14. Using Narrative Answers • Example • Overall, how would you rate your health excellent , very good, good, fair, or poor? • Rating the healthiness of one’s lifestyle is very different from rating one’s health status. • Researchers need respondents to use same criteria for rating their health

15. Using Narrative Answers • Asking respondents to evaluate questions • Example • Bardburn (1979) was asked people about their activities such as drinking to excess, income, education • In respondent debriefings after the interview, they asked three different questions

16. Using Narrative Answers • Asking respondents to evaluate questions • Example • Any of the questions were too hard or difficult? • Any of the questions were to personal? • What do you think about people would feel about answering the questions very uneasy, moderately uneasy, slightly uneasy, or not at all uneasy?

17. Using Narrative Answers • Asking respondents to evaluate questions • Found question hard or personal were themselves threatening questions • It is not informative to ask respondent directly • Answering projective question is more useful and informative (asking about other people how would they answer or think about the question)

18. Using Narrative Answers • Projective Techniques are indirect and unstructured methods of investigation which have been developed by the psychologists and use projection of respondents for inferring about underline motives, urges or intentions which cannot be secure through direct questioning as the respondent either resists to reveal them or is unable to figure out himself.

19. Using Narrative Answers • These techniques are useful in giving respondents opportunities to express their attitudes without personal embarrassment. • These techniques helps the respondents to project his own attitude and feelings unconsciously on the subject under study. • Projective Techniques play an important role in motivational researches or in attitude surveys

20. Questions ?