Public Opinion Quarterly · 1949 · 13 citations · 0 references
EngineeringMany Poll QuestionsComputational ComplexityPublic OpinionDecision ScienceCommunicationSpecial SurveysSurvey (Human Research)BiasManagementP Versus Np ProblemDecision TheoryComputer SciencePreference AggregationAutomated ReasoningCase StudyComputational ProblemOpinion Research CorporationPersuasionSurvey MethodologyOpinion Aggregation
Many poll questions offer several alternatives, among which respondents are asked to choose. When questions are “tight” the order in which these alternatives are presented makes little difference in the choices of respondents, but when the questions are “loose” more respondents tend to choose the alternative which is stated last. An experimental survey indicates that questions which are long and which contain difficult words tend to be “loose” and should be avoided whenever possible. The author is Co-Director of Special Surveys, Cleveland. This article is based on a survey made while he was Research Director, Opinion Research Corporation.