Norman M. Bradburn

Asking Questions serves as a practical, introductory guide to questionnaire design. This classic book, first published more than 35 years ago, has been an essential tool for students and professionals on how to ask the right questions. The overall format and structure of the third edition will follow previous editions; however, significant updates and improvements will made throughout, making this the new edition up-to-date on the latest survey trends and more classroom friendly. Included are new chapters on 1) web surveys and multimode surveys and 2) polls and polling. There will also be new or expanded coverage on important survey design issues, such as integrating mode choice and sequencing of modes, cognitive models of response including satisficing, additional examples of questionnaires for different situations and contexts, new guidance on effective testing of survey items and how to ask demographic questions, and dis greater discussion and detail on using basic scalar questions. All illustrative examples, including most figures, will be updated. Student-friendly pedagogy, such as learning objectives, summary, key terms, and review questions, and web-based resources, such lecture slides and a test bank, will all be new to the third edition.

In this important book, the authors explore what answers mean in relation to how people understand the world around them and communicate with one another. They offer practical and theoretical insights that will prove invaluable when developing questionnaires.

Since it was first published more than twenty-five years ago, Asking Questions has become a classic guide for designing questionnaires¾the most widely used method for collecting information about people’s attitudes and behavior. An essential tool for market researchers advertisers, pollsters, and social scientists, this thoroughly updated and definitive work combines time-proven techniques with the most current research, findings, and methods. The book presents a cognitive approach to questionnaire design and includes timely information on the Internet and electronic resources. Comprehensive and concise, Asking Questions can be used to design questionnaires for any subject area, whether administered by telephone, online, mail, in groups, or face-to-face. The book describes the design process from start to finish and is filled with illustrative examples from actual surveys

Explains how polls are conducted, describes the causes of polling errors, and discusses how polls are used and interpreted.