Book Review: Asking Questions

Asking Questions by Doctors Norman Bradburn, Seymour Sudman and Brian Wansink delves deeply into developing useful surveys for business, marketing, customer service, political and academic research purposes. The book provides an overview of how questions on surveys influence results. Developing strong survey questions will encourage more accurate and valid responses that accurately reflect the construct the researchers are trying to measure. The book will move you through three parts:

Part 1: Strategies for Asking Questions: Understanding the wider social context and cultural aspects of questions is important for understanding how those questions are interpreted. For example, developing questions about finance, sexual behavior, criminality, and very personal issues may lead to incorrect data. Different cultures will have varying viewpoints on which questions are appropriate and which ones are not. Understanding how questions are perceived from a cultural background or demographic can help in wording those questions properly and making them less stigmatizing. 

Part II: Tactics for Asking Questions: The way in which questions are worded and asked can have a huge impact on the actual results of the surveys. When possible such questions should be neutral and asked in different ways to ensure that they are not leading the answers. Leading answers means that more people will pick a particular response due to the way a question is asked. It is also important to have multiple forms of the question to help lower that chances that the questions were misunderstood and asked inappropriately.

Part III: Drafting and Crafting the Questionnaire: The final section of the book deals with concepts such as font size, color of paper, how it is to be administrated, websites, and other things thought about before the administration page. Even though these things may not seem that important they can change the nature and response rate of the questionnaire. If participants can’t understand the high language or see the font it is certainly going to impact the studies success.

A large percentage of research is conducted using surveys. We see these surveys in the news, within companies, political associations, and at colleges. How these surveys are developed often determine their overall validity. We should not expect every survey to necessarily be valid and truthful unless it is designed and administered in the right way. This means that what we perceive as accurate may not be accurate at all.  If you plan on conducting your own research it is beneficial to pick up this book when building your survey and a different statistical book when trying to determine how to validate that survey.  This book provides a strong list of references as well as non-for-profit and academic survey contacts.

Bradburn, B., Sudman, S. & Wansink, B. (2004). Asking Questions: the definitive guide to questionnaire design, for market research, political polls, and social and health questionnaires. San Francisco, CA; John Wiley & Sons.  ISBN0-7879-7088-3

Pages: Approximately 416

A Current Study: An Evaluation of the CEIS Study

Purpose/Significance

Dr Andree Swanson and Dr Paula Zobisch, research partners, are conducting a qualitative study is to evaluate the CEIS as a predictor of emotional intelligence in consumers.  The researchers believe that current measurement of Emotional Intelligence is not an accurate predictor of consumer behavior.  Kidwell developed the Consumer Emotional Intelligence Scale (CEIS) to determine consumer emotional intelligence in place of using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) (Kidwell, Hardesty, and Childers (2008a).  The qualitative study will seek consumers and marketing professionals over 18 years of age who were recruited through social media to evaluate the accuracy/effectiveness of the CEIS. 

Significance Statement

The significance of this study is that impulse buying, in its extreme, can cause financial hardship.  Kidwell, Hardesty, and Childers (2008a) designed an instrument to measure the effect of emotions on consumer buying decisions, the Consumer Emotional Intelligence Scale (CEIS).  The instrument was designed to measure emotions and allows individuals to recognize emotional patterns when making consumer buying decisions.  Since reason leads to conclusions and emotions lead to action (Kotler, Kartajaya, & Setiawan, 2010), the impact to marketers is to communicate with the consumer in such a manner as to evoke a positive emotion that leads to a favorable buying decision.  The results of this study will significantly add to the existing literature on consumer behavior and the psychology of consumer behavior.

Benefits

The results of the proposed study could potentially aid the consumer who is susceptible to impulse buying based on emotion. The results may also provide a positive resource for the field of business marketing and consumer behavior education.  The results of this study will significantly add to the existing literature on consumer behavior and the psychology of consumer behavior.

Participate in Study

We welcome you to participate in this research project related to consumer behavior.  Please go directly to www.ZobischSwanson.info to take the surveys.  

Dr. Andree Swanson and Dr. Paula Zobisch

 References

Kidwell, B., Hardesty, D. M., & Childers, T. L. (2008a). Consumer emotional intelligence: Conceptualization, measurement, and the prediction of consumer decision making. Advances in Consumer Research, 35, 660.

Kidwell, B., Hardesty, D. M., & Childers, T. L. (2008b, December). Emotional calibration effects on consumer choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(4), 611-621

Kidwell, B., Hardesty, D. M., Murtha, B. R., & Sheng, S. (2011, January). Emotional intelligence in marketing exchanges. Journal of Marketing, 75, 78-95

Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H., & Setiawan, I. (2010). Marketing 3.0: From products to customers to the human spirit. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Effective Use of Paralanguage in the Workplace

Paralanguage is related to the use of subtle messages that includes tone, prosody, intonation, tempo, syllable emphasis, and other hints that create additional meaning beyond the words themselves. Knowing and understanding how paralanguage influences clarity can help in creating more effective conversation in the workplace. Managers who are capable of creating higher levels of congruency between the words they use and the paralanguage associated with those words can increase their communication effectiveness and organizational influence.

Most information comes from non-verbal aspects of communication and alignment between these two concepts creates congruence. A study of university lecturers helped identify that those who used appropriate pitch, loudness, variability, pauses, and fluency increased audience satisfaction (Md Zani, et. al, 2011). The audience paid more attention and were more focused on the concepts. This helps ensure that the messages not only came across well but were also received by members of the audience.

If the use of paralanguage can benefit the quality of communication in a public forum it can also benefit management and employee relationships. As employees seek to understand expectations, directions, and practical information they will listen beyond the words into paralanguage to determine both intent and hidden meaning. This intent, whether positive or negative, will help ensure the truthfulness of the message. 

In many cases employees are not consciously aware of these messages and intuitively prescribe them to the words being spoken. The use of paralanguage is a system that develops within a cultural heritage to further expand the language capabilities between members (Wang De-hue, 2007). Because we are raised within a particular culture we may have some difficulty interpreting the meaning of messages from other cultures. The more we associate with other cultures the more able we are to understand their subtle messages.

We begin to become aware of that language at a young age in the same way that we become aware of social context. At the age of six children are still more likely to judge the actual words versus the subtle differences in paralanguage (Morton & Trehub 2001). Yet by the time they become adults they are much more astute at this overall judgment between spoken language and its subtle paralanguage. 

To create congruence of language also creates clarity in the message as well as its perceived honesty. For many managers it is about being aware of such language and its potential impact on employees that will help them create stronger relationships with employees as well as more effectiveness within their management style. It is through continuous practice that managers can improve both the giving as well as the reception of such messages. 

Organizations should consider a level of training in language usage as it pertains to the workplace. A number of studies have indicated that both written and verbal communication skills are important factors of success in the workplace. Employee resistance, misinterpretation, wasted employee effort, conflict, and general labor relations are all associated with the proper use of language. The concept becomes even more important as leaders grow in influence and power. It is difficult for them to clearly articulate their strategic visions if they are inadvertently giving off mixed signals that are interpreted differently by different sectors of society.

Md Zani, et. al. (2011). The relationship between lecturers’ paralanguage and student’s satisfaction in Universiti Teknologi Mara, Kendah, Malaysia. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in business, 3 (6). 

Morton & Trehub, S. (2001). Children’s understanding of emotion in speech. Child Development, 72 (3).

Wang, D. & Li, H. (2007). Nonverbal language in cross-cultural communication. US-China Foreign Language, 5 (10).

A Current Study: An Assessment of Online Instructor’s Perceptions on Using an Introductory Video

Purpose/Significance

Dr Andree Swanson and Dr Maria Minor, research partners, are conducting a qualitative study to identify the views of online faculty on whether using an introductory video will be of assistance to increase social engagement.  Faculty want to ensure that students have a sense of connection and engagement (e-connectivity) with the faculty.  Increased e-connectivity will improve retention, reduce attrition, and help to keep the student engaged in the classroom (Swanson, Hutkin, Babb, & Howell, 2010, p. 121).  The study will seek the opinions of online faculty using social media such as Linkedin, Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

Significance Statement

The significance of this study is that faculty want to ensure that students are engaged in the online classroom.  Studies have been completed that identified the need for:

1)      Achieving a social connection (e-connectivity) with their students (Muirhead, 2000; Slagter van Tryon & Bishop, 2006)

2)      Increasing interactivity that “will help the students' with their understanding” (Swanson, Hutkin, Babb, & Howell, 2010, p. 121).

Swanson et al. (2010) stated,

Participants in a study agreed that faculty should be warm, available to answer questions; hold students to a high standard, remain flexible to adult learners; honest in all of their interactions, and demonstrate a caring nature in the online classroom. (p. 119)

Slagter van Tryon and Bishop (2006) as cited in Swanson et al. (2010) defined the unique term e-immediacy as the feeling of social connectivity between two online individuals whether instructors or classmates).  Engagement and the feelings of social connectedness are what the students’ desire (Slagter van Tryon & Bishop, 2006; Swanson et al., 2010).  Student engagement can be increased by including, at a minimum, instructor welcome videos in the online classroom.  The addition of introductory videos will enable the faculty members to engage in the proposed study to share their personality and enthusiasm for the topic.       

Benefits

This is an introductory research project. The benefits of this study may result in data that participants can use.  If the results show a positive outcome, participants make look into adding a welcoming video into their own classroom.  The benefits are to the online learning community may result in increased retention in online classroom and may result in reduced attrition.  The results from this survey may present significant data to conduct further research on the addition of video in the classroom which may benefit higher education and learning in society.

Participate in Study

You are invited to participate in a 12-question research study Using an Introductory.  Please go to this link, complete the informed consent, and take the brief survey.  Please go to http://www.minorswanson.info/#!current-research/ch6q then click on the link at the bottom of the page.

Dr. Andree Swanson and Dr Maria Minor

References

Slagter van Tryon, P. J., & Bishop, M. J. (2006). Identifying “e-mmediacy” strategies for web-based instruction: A Delphi study. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 7(1), 49-63. Retrieved July 11, 2009, from ProQuest database.

Swanson, A., Hutkin, R., Babb, D., & Howell, S. (2010, Sep). Establishing the best practices for social interaction and e-connectivity in online higher education classes. Doctoral dissertation, University of Phoenix, Arizona. Publication Number: 3525517. Retrieved from http://gradworks.umi.com/3525517.pdf