This course focuses on how and why words, numbers, symbols and graphics independently and jointly influence answers to questions in Internet and paper surveys. It begins with theoretical background on why and how the visual aspects of questions are interpreted by respondents and guide their reading and comprehension of meaning. Applications of the theory and research to designing individual person and establishment surveys in ways that improve their usability for respondents will be provided. The course includes a discussion of the substantial implications these ideas have for the design of mixed-mode surveys in which some respondents are asked to report aurally (e.g. telephone) and others are asked to complete visually communicated (web or mail) survey questions. The substantial visual design challenges researchers are now facing with designing questions for smartphones will be discussed as part of the mixed-mode design issues that must be addressed in many surveys.



THE INSTRUCTOR

This course will be taught by Don A. Dillman, Regents Professor in the Departments of Sociology and the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center at Washington State University in Pullman. Dillman is a past-president of the American Association for Public Research and also served as the Senior Survey Methodologist at the U.S. Census Bureau (1991-1995) where he provided leadership for introducing respondent friendly design into the Decennial Census and other government surveys. His 2014 book (with Jolene Smyth and Leah Christian), "Phone, Internet, Mail and Mixed-Mode Surveys: the Tailored Design" (John Wiley: Hoboken NJ, 2014) provides background for the visual design and survey implementation recommendations provided in this short course.


This course will count as 7.0 CPSM short course credit hours.