Following Professor D. A. Preece's lecture on Tuesday 17th November 2009, students should be able to discuss the problems that could arise if any of the following words or phrases were to be used in the wording of a questionnaire: 1 animal experiment 2 approve of 3 believe / believe that / believe in 4 bike 5 bought 6 complain / complaint 7 country 8 dinner 9 drugs 10 employment 11 ethnic background 12 GM 13 happy 14 have 15 income 16 job 17 journey 18 more 19 occupier / owner 20 overall opinion 21 read 22 remuneration 23 room 24 university 25 vivisection 26 wait / waiting time 27 week Some brief notes are now given, but students are expected to do their own thinking about these topics. Details of the reference book recommended by Professor Preece are at the end of this message. Professor Preece can be contacted via Dr Sugden. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 1. ANIMAL EXPERIMENT What is an animal? In Biology, "animals" include man, beetles, and sea-anemones, but in common parlance man is not an animal. "Animal" may mean a creature, other than man, that has a backbone - or perhaps a creature that you might take to the vet's. But we sometimes say "birds and animals", and birds have backbones. We are unlikely to take a slug or caterpillar to the vet's, but we might take a tarrantula (a type of spider). Gardeners may wish to eradicate slugs and caterpillars, and may not regard these creatures as having "animals' rights". What is an experiment? You might wish to see if your budgie will eat a particular type of seed. So you buy some of the seed, offer it, and note the reaction. You might call this an experiment. But in statistics, an "experiment" involves making a COMPARISON under carefully regulated conditions. Perhaps you compare the budgie's reactions to two different types of seed. In medical research, we might compare the response to drug X with the response to a placebo (an inert substance). In agricultural research, we might compare the effects on bacon-production of two different diets fed to pigs; in veterinary research, we might compare two different types of inocula for cats. These are experiments on animals, but are not what are often called "animal experiments", a term often used for investigations where the animal is used as a testing-ground for substances or procedures (medical or cosmetic) intended for use on man. 2. APPROVE OF Suppose we ask someone "Do you approve of betting-shops?" The repondent might abhor betting and never do it, but might nevertheless acknowledge that other people see nothing wrong with betting, and so might judge that it is best to set aside a regulated place for them to do it. So does the respondent approve of betting-shops? 3. BELIEVE / BELIEVE THAT / BELIEVE IN Suppose we ask someone "Do you believe in God?" and the person believes that there are seven gods. How is the person to respond? In English there are different verbs: (a) TO BELIEVE something (believe it to be true); .......... somebody (believe what the person says); .......... that ... (as in "to believe that Senator X is evil, which sounds like a judgment at least as much as a statement of belief). (b) TO BELIEVE IN Santa Claus (believe that Santa Claus exists); ............. having a Flu Vaccination (believe that it will do us good - again judgmental); ............. Dai Jones (believe that Dai is a generally good chap, believe that he can be trusted, admire his sense of values). What does "I don't believe" mean? The wording "I don't believe X" commonly means "I believe X to be false", but this is the English language at its worst. Taken literally, the wording means "I don't hold a belief that X is true", which wouldn't necessarily mean that I believe X to be false. I simply might not have a belief either way. If you don't have a belief in something, you might not have a disbelief either. (A similar problem arises with "don't want", as became very clear in connection with something that the British Prime Minister may or may not have wanted, earlier this year.) In science, belief is less than certainty, less than knowledge. In religion, belief may be regarded as "a different sort of knowledge". 4. BIKE Can mean motor-bike or pedal-bike (push-bike). 5. BOUGHT "Have you bought a washing-machine in the past 6 months?" Who is "you"? (You and your partner?) Have you paid for it yet? Have you paid anything for it yet? What does "bought" mean? 6. COMPLAIN / COMPLAINT The dividing line twixt a "complaint" and a "helpful suggestion for improvement" may be a fine one. Organisations often report the "no. of complaints received", but this may be WRITTEN ones only. Customers/clients/patients may be so delighted with services or goods received that they have no wish to "complain", but they may wish to make suggestions for improvement. 7. COUNTRY "What country do you come from?" [What is a "country"?] Professor Preece comes from Britain, from England (where he works and his parents were born), and from Scotland (where he was born, went to school, and was an undergraduate). What country do you come from if you live in the Isle of Man (which is not part of England, and has its own Parliament)? What country do you come from if you live in the Caribbean island of Martinique (which is part of Metropolitan France)? 8. DINNER May be a lunch-time meal or an evening meal. (In England, it used to be at about 4 p.m.) 9. DRUGS May be "prescription drugs" (prescribed by a doctor), "medication bought from a pharmacy" (with or without a pharmacist's advice), or "non-medical narcotics and stimulants". 10. EMPLOYMENT If I have a long-term contract to lecture at 11 a.m. on a Monday and at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, and I am paid by the hour, am I "in employment" when you ask me on a Wednesday? (Part-time employment?) If I am registered as "self-employed", am I in employment? There may well be legal definitions of these things, BUT respondents to a questionnaire may not know them. 11. ETHINIC BACKGROUND If all my great-grandparents were Cossacks, what is my ethnic background? Perhaps my grandparents were British (by birth or naturalisation). Perhaps the composer of a questionnaire wants to know WHAT I FEEL MYSELF TO BE. Professor Preece is British, but QM asked him, in a questionnaire, what sort of British? Well, he is both English and Scottish (see above); he feels English, but he used to look very handsome (so he claims) in a kilt (and some people can tell from his speech that he comes from Edinburgh). (He has an Anglo-Welsh surname, and had a great-grandmother who was said to be Irish.) 12. GM = genetically modified, genetic modification If someone claims to object to GM, do they object to the scientific technique in general, or do they object to the particular modifications that have been chosen (e.g. introducing genetic information from a fish into a tomato)? 13. HAPPY = pleased (with a smile) = content (without a smile) The wording "Are you happy?" may be used to mean "Do you have a complaint?" In a bad survey report "Everybody was happy" might turn out to mean "Everybody was prepared to put up with it". 14. HAVE Bad question: "Do you have a TV?" What does "have" mean? Does it mean "own"? Or "have access to" (a possibly rented set)? 15. INCOME Earned (salary, wages). Un-earned (interest, pension, dividends). But what about "tips" and "reclaimed expenses"? 16. JOB See also "employment". Do I have a job if I am self-employed? What is a "main job"? If I wash up in a restuarant at lunch time and I play sax in a Jazz Club in the evening, which is my "main job"? The one that pays the more? The one that takes up more of my time? 17. JOURNEY This word can cause much trouble in questionnaires about travelling to work. Perhaps I walk (or use a car) to travel from home to the railway station, then change trains at Downminster Junction, then take the tube, then walk. What were my "modes of transport"? Is "on foot" a mode of transport (as "on my bike" would be)? What is "a rail journey"? If I changed trains at Downminster, did I have one rail journey or two? How do I answer the question "Was my train on time?" if I used two trains? If I missed my connection at Downminster, does it matter whether the train that I missed was on time, or whether the train that I then caught was on time? If I arrive at my destination late, the train that I arrive on may have been on time or indeed early. 18. MORE "We need more inspiring lecturers!" Does this mean that we have some inspiring lecturers but we need more of them? Or does it mean that we need our lecturers to be more inspiring? In this example, the difference may not be important, but in other examples it may be very important to know whether "more" refers to an adjective or to a noun qualified by an adjective. 19. OCCUPIER / OWNER If there are two occupiers, who anwers the letter addressed to "The Occupier"? What is the legal definition of "occupier" - if indeed such a definition exists. The "owner" may be a landlord who is not an occupier. An occupier may be a tenant. If a door-to-door interviewer is left to choose one of several occupiers, or a volunteer occupier is interviewed, bias could arise. 20. OVERALL OPINION This dubious terminology is sometimes used. What does "overall" mean? If some sort of average is intended, then the averaging could well be over completely different things. What good is that? 21. READ "Did you read a newspaper yesterday?" Do you say "Yes" or "No" if you just glanced at it? Just skimmed it? "What magazines do you read?" - what does that mean? Do you read the College Bulletin? Perhaps you read bits of it carefully, ignore some of it altogether, and skim the rest for the pictures. 22. REMUNERATION Pay, Salary, Wages, ... Tips? Reimbursed expenses? Company car? Luncheon vouchers? Free parking? ("Remuneration package") Transfer allowance? 23. ROOM A census might ask how many rooms there are in a house. What is "a room"? Is a kitchen a room? (A recent census judged that a kitchen is a room if it is larger than a certain size!) If you put a desk and a computer in a passageway or on a landing, does the passage/landing become a room? What about attics, cellars? What about retractable partitions? 24. UNIVERSITY "What University do you go to?" Technically, QM is part of the University of London. It is "Queen Mary and Westfield College", but we are asked to call it "Queen Mary, University of London". QM is funded separately from other Colleges of the University of London, and appears separately in League Tables. Then there are Colleges that are becoming Universities and are called University Colleges; in a questionnaire, you may need to use the phrase "University institution". 25. VIVISECTION A misused word. I looked up two dictionaries. One said simply "Surgery on a live animal". The other adds "... or other painful treatment". The addition is contrary to etymology. Also, the addition implies that the surgery must be painful (whereas the animal might be anaesthetized). The first definition perhaps implies that any surgery on your pet dog is vivisection, but a beneficial operation at the vet's should not be lumped together with research operations on animals for the benefit of man. 26. WAIT / WAITING TIME We've all heard stories of GP surgeries that allegedly won't book you a non-urgent appointment 10 days ahead (on the day when you want to go) because this would allegedly be recorded as "a 10-day wait for an appointment". Also, "waiting time to see a consultant" might be "waiting time for a booking PLUS waiting time from booking to appointment". 27. WEEK Does "this past week" mean "the days from last Monday onwards" (which is 4 and a half days at Friday lunch time), or does it mean "the past 7 days" (which may itself be an unclear phrase)? When the word "week" is used, how do we know whether it means "working-week" (excluding weekend)? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOK A. N. OPPENHEIM: "Questionnaire Design, Interviewing and Attitude Measurement", New Edition 1992 (with subsequent reprints). London and New York: Pinter Publishers. ISBN 1 85567 0437 (hardback) 1 85567 0445 (paperback) Queen Mary Main Library Reference: HN29 OPP $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Professor Donald A. Preece Emeritus Professor in the University of London School of Mathematical Sciences Queen Mary, University of London $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$