It is easy to influence responses—intentionally or unintentionally—through the wording of a question. What do you think of this question?
Considering the extremely high price of gasoline, for your next vacation are you most likely to: (choose one)
____ Fly
____ Drive
____ Take a train
____ Take a bus
____ Other
Here is what two respondents thought:
Jack: “Wow, I think they are right. Gas is likely to be through the roof this summer. If we go anywhere, we might try the bus.”
Bob: “I wonder how the price of gas is going to affect all of these forms of transportation. I think airlines are going to be hit hard. For our family of four it may be cheaper to drive rather than fly as we usually would.”
You can see the impact of the question’s wording on these respondents. They answered in reaction to the biasing phrase “Considering the extremely high price of gasoline” instead of simply responding to the question about their most likely method of travel on their next vacation.
Let’s use this principle to clean up this question by removing the idea about the extremely high price of gas.
Improved Question:
For your next vacation, are you most likely to: (choose one)
____ Fly
____ Drive
____ Take a train
____ Take a bus
____ Other
Here is another one from a nationally recognized restaurant chain:
Thinking about your last visit to the restaurant, how satisfied were you with the friendly staff?
Let’s take out the bias and ask:
Thinking about your last visit to the restaurant, how satisfied or dissatisfied were you with the staff?
