Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

SURVEY RESEARCH

Respondents often telescope, or compress time,

when asked about past events. They recall an event

but earlier (backward telescope) or later (forward

telescope) than it actually occurred. Several tech-

niques reduce telescoping (see Expansion Box 4,

Four Techniques to Reduce Telescoping).

Honest Answers
Questions about Sensitive Topics.We sometimes
ask about sensitive issues or ones that people
believe threaten their presentation of themselves.
These include questions about sexual behavior,
drug or alcohol use, mental health problems, law
violations, or socially unpopular behavior. Respon-
dents may be reluctant to answer completely and
truthfully. To ask about such issues, we adjust how
we ask and are especially cautious about the results^20
(see Table 2).
Questions on sensitive issues are part of the
larger issue of ego protection. Most of us try to

present a positive image of ourselves to others. We

may be ashamed, embarrassed, or afraid to give

truthful answers, or may find confronting our actions

honestly to be emotionally painful, let alone admit-

ting them to others. When this occurs, we under-

report the behaviors or attitudes we wish to hide or

believe to violate social norms. People often under-

report having an illness or disability (e.g., cancer,

mental illness, venereal disease), engaging in illegal

or deviant behavior (e.g., evading taxes, taking

drugs, consuming alcohol, engaging in uncommon

sexual practices), or revealing their financial status

(e.g., income, savings, debts)

We can increase honest answering about sen-

sitive topics in four ways: create comfort and trust,

use enhanced phrasing, establish a desensitizing

context, and use anonymous questioning methods.

Each is discussed next.

1.Create comfort and trust.Establish trust

and a comfortable setting before asking questions.

Before starting an interview we can explicitly

restate guarantees of anonymity and confidential-

ity and emphasize the need for obtaining honest

Telescoping Survey research respondents’ com-

pressing time when answering about past events,

overreporting recent events, and underreporting

distant past ones.

EXPANSION BOX 4

Four Techniques to Reduce Telescoping

1. Situational framing. Ask the respondent to recall a
   specific situation and ask details about it (“Tell me
   what happened on the day you were married, start-
   ing with the morning”).
   2.Decomposition. Ask the respondent several specific
   events and then add them up (“Last week did you
   buy anything from a vending machine? Now, for the
   week before that, did you buy any items?”).
   3.Landmark anchoring. Ask the respondent whether
   something occurred before or after a major event
   (“Did that occur before or after the major earthquake
   here in June 2010?”).
   4.Bounded recall.(for panel surveys). Ask the respon-
   dent about events that occurred since the last inter-
   view (“We last talked 2 years ago; since that time,
   what jobs have you held?”).

TABLE 2 Threatening Questions and Sensitive

Issues

TOPIC

PERCENTAGE

VERY UNEASY

Masturbation 56

Sexual intercourse 42

Use of marijuana or hashish 42

Use of stimulants and depressants 31

Getting drunk 29

Petting and kissing 20

Income 12

Gambling with friends 10

Drinking beer, wine, or liquor 10

Happiness and well-being 4

Education 3

Occupation 3

Social activities 2

General leisure 2

Sports activity 1

Source:Adapted from Improving Interview Method and

Questionnaire Design. Bradburn and Sudman. 1980.

JosseyBass. ISBN 10: 087589402X