Chapter 4

• Content analysis

  A system for quantifying responses to open-ended questions by categorizing them according to objective rules or guidelines.
• Context effects

  • Effects produced by the position of a question.
  • Where it falls within the question order can influence how the question is interpreted.
• Continuous dimension

  • The concept that traits, attitudes, and preferences can be viewed as a continuous dimension, and each individual can fall at any point along each dimension.
  • For example: sociability can be viewed as a continuous dimension ranging from very unsociable to very sociable.
• Manifest content


  The plain meaning of the words or questions that actually appear on the page.
• Position preference


  When in doubt about answers to multiple-choice questions, some people always select a response in a certain position, such as answer c.
• Random number table


  A table of numbers generated by a computer so that every number has an equal chance of being selected for each position in the table.
• Response set


  A tendency to answer questions based on their latent content with the goal of creating a certain impression of ourselves.
• Response style


  Tendency for subjects to respond to questions or test items in a specific way, regardless of the content.
• Survey research

  • A useful way of obtaining data about people's opinions, attitudes, preferences and experiences that are hard to observe directly.
  • Data may be obtained using questionnaires or interviews.