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Avoid jargon and technical language whenever possible: Avoid long words in gen-
eral (like “conscientious”). This is a common rule for writing. Rules have excep-
tions: you are reading this chapter because you are interested in assessing the
skills of people who are doing surgery. If asking questions about a laparoscopic
cholecystectomy, some medical terminology may be necessary, but this is not a
license to use big words at will. Your readers will know certain terms and jargon,
as part of their profession. However, just because members of a surgical team
probably know words like “pneumoperitoneum,” it doesn’t mean that they know
what “conscientiousness” means.
“Conscientious” is a big and relatively rare word. So is “pneumoperitoneum.”
But there’s also a major difference. “Pneumoperitoneum” is very specific in mean-
ing. “Conscientious” is much more complex.
Avoid complex words: What does it mean to be conscientious? The word brings to
mind a certain person: hardworking, responsible, orderly, honest, punctual, deci-
sive, and with a respect for the rules [ 12 ]. Conscientious, is a single word that
captures a complex idea. So when your reader answers that his peers are “some-
times” conscientious, what are you to make of it? Does it mean that his peers are
all of these things sometimes, some of these things sometimes, some of these
things always but others never? The complexity of the word conscientiousness
creates numerous ways to interpret the same answer.
In lieu of using a complex word, two easy alternatives exist.
One, you can break apart the complex concept and ask questions about its various
parts. Several clear and simple questions are better than one unclear, complicated
question. Rather than using an unclear and complicated phrase like “my peers
are conscientious,” it is better to break the question into simpler items like “my
peers are hardworking,” “my peers are responsible,” “my peers are orderly,” and
so on.
Two, if you want to stick to a single question, you can focus on the part of the con-
cept best suits your purpose. Let’s continue with the example of the word “con-
scientious.” Including seven items about the different facets, conscientiousness
may be overkill. Perhaps your main interest is in whether members of the surgical
team are “hardworking.” In this case, the lone item of “my peers are hardwork-
ing” is preferable to “my peers are conscientious.”
Complex words make your data messy. Vague words have the same effect – even
if they are short, simple, and common.
Avoid vagueness: In our example, the word conscientious stands out, but there is
another problematic word hiding ahead of it – peers. It is a simple and common
word, but, without context, peers is vague. Imagine you asked the above question
to every member of a surgical team, as part of an assessment of team morale.
How might, say, a general surgery resident interpret the word peers? Would she
C. Hitt