3. What possible issues associated with consumer behaviour and consumption patterns might be extremely sensitive ones to directly question respondents about? How might researchers overcome the difficulties of collecting these types of sensitive data?
There are various issues and subject matters related to consumer behaviour and consumption patterns that are generally considered sensitive in nature. It can often be difficult to ask direct questions about these subjects and in many cases even more difficult to obtain honest answers.
The general areas in which these problems might arise are:
Health Information
Criminal Records
Sexual Preference
Sexual Behaviour
Race
Ethnic Background
Political Views
Religion
Trade Union Membership
Various Association Memberships
The most commonly suggested method for incorporating questions of a delicate nature into a survey is to leave sensitive subject matter until the end of the questionnaire. The reasoning behind this is that if the respondent is deterred by the question and does not answer it or the rest of the survey, you still have obtained the majority of the required information for research.
IBM Portable Personal Computer :: Retrocomputing o...
IBM Portable Personal Computer :: Retrocomputing o...
OPSEC -- Do you yahoo...So, it is generally suggested to keep the opening questions general and non-offensive to establish some trust. Most surveys begin with simple demographic questions such as those regarding age, education, income and employment. However, sometimes individuals regard these questions as highly personal and may be unwilling to participate in the research. The conclusion being, it is very difficult to construct an effective survey that satisfies everyone's acceptable boundaries within which to probe for information. When constructing a questionnaire it is perhaps more important to consider how to word the sensitive questions and how to administer the questionnaire itself, than it is to think about the order in which the questions are asked.
Type of Survey
Personal interviews are a disadvantage when inquiring about a delicate subject; respondents are...