attitude measurement
Any attempt to survey and measure people's attitudes in relation to a topic, whether by academic social scientists, market researchers, media industry researchers, or public opinion pollsters. ...
attitude scale
A survey instrument, usually made up of questions or statements to which a range of alternative responses, e.g., degree of agreement with leading statements, is possible.
closed question
A question to which an answer must be selected from a limited set. Questionnaire items with fixed response categories are closed questions, and questions in interviews or informal conversations can ...
code
A number entered into a computer to signify each answer to a questionnaire. The list of codes for each question is stored in the codebook. The process of translating the questionnaire responses into ...
coding
The process of sorting entities such as disease diagnoses into categories and assigning a predesignated number or other identifying symbol to each.
distribution
The set of values of a set of data, possibly grouped into classes, together with their frequencies or relative frequencies. In the case of random variables the distribution is the set of possible ...
Guttman scale
A type of attitude scale, the items of which can be arranged in a hierarchical order such that agreement with any particular item implies probable agreement with all those below it in the hierarchy, ...
incentive
A cash payment or some other reward that is offered to employees conditional on an improvement in performance. The purpose of an incentive is to induce motivation.
interview
A structured meeting in which a person is questioned as part of a process of choosing among candidates for a position, or a journalistic or other form of enquiry; more specifically a method of data ...
inventory
A detailed list of items, such as the register of sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in a particular country.
Likert scale
(lik-ert)a tool used in questionnaires in which participants are asked to respond to statements on a scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. [R. Likert (1903–81), US psychologist]
market research
A form of survey research into the attitudes, opinions, and behaviour of consumers towards products and services, distinguished in careful usage from marketing research. See also mystery customer ...
open-ended question
A question that requires respondents to provide answers in their own words, rather than ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘don't know’. Such questions as Why…? What…? When…? are asked without providing answers from ...
personality inventory
A questionnaire designed to measure one or more personality characteristics, usually traits.
pilot study
A small-scale test of a research project to evaluate its design. Pilot studies are frequently conducted in order to minimize the risks (and correct for potential errors) involved in large-scale ...
primary research
Techniques of original data collection or research direct from the target respondents. Primary research is different from secondary research in that secondary research uses data or research that has ...
respondent
A person replying to questions in a survey or interview. In social science, usually in formal questionnaires or structured interviews. Compare informant.
response rate
The proportion, percentage, or fraction of individuals who reply to inquiries that have been directed to all the individuals in a population, or a representative sample of them. The validity of ...
survey
(ser-vay)a study that involves the systematic collection of data from a population sample by means of questionnaires or interviews and/or through observation.
