Web Survey Bibliography
The heart of a survey is its questionnaire. Drawing a sample, hiring and training interviewers and supervisors, programming computers, and other preparatory work is all in service of the conversation that takes place between researchers and respondents. Survey results depend crucially on the questionnaire that scripts this conversation (irrespective of how the conversation is mediated, e.g., by an interviewer or a computer). To minimize response errors, questionnaires should be crafted in accordance with best practices.
Recommendations about best practices stem from experience and common lore, on the one hand, and methodological research, on the other. In this chapter, we first offer recommendations about optimal questionnaire design based on the common wisdom (focusing mainly on the words used in questions), and then make further recommendations based on a review of the methodological research (focusing mainly on the structural features of questions).
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