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Activity Number: 170
Type: Contributed
Date/Time: Monday, August 1, 2016 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
Abstract #319936
Title: Investigating How the Wording of a Survey Question Can Change the Results
Author(s): Phyllis Curtiss*
Companies: Grand Valley State University
Keywords: survey ; Wording ; pie charts ; bar charts ; Investigating ; Introductory Statistics
Abstract:

The way a question is worded on a survey can lead to people giving different answers. To illustrate this concept to Introductory Statistics students, I have been giving a survey to my students the first day of class for the last 15 years. Unknown to them, there are two forms of the survey - Form A and Form B. Ten of the 16 questions on the surveys are exactly the same while the other six questions are slightly different on the two forms. In this presentation, I will talk about the six questions on the surveys that differ and how they differ. I will then illustrate how the answers the students give tend to change in response to the changes made in the wording of the question. In a typical semester, I use three of these questions in class as examples of pie charts and bar charts and how to obtain one in SPSS. The other three questions are given as a homework assignment so they can investigate how the answers changed, or didn't change, as a result of the change in wording.


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