A note on pre-testing public opinion questions

Abstract

9questions from "The Quarter's Polls" were submitted to 48 respondents, who were asked after answering to interpret the meanings of the questions. 17% of these interpretations were judged to be wholly or partially wrong. Flesch scores for the 9 questions ranged from reading grade 5.8 to 17.2. The limitations of the study are noted, and the point made that it is possible that conventional pre-testing of questions is not adequate and may result in distortion of survey results. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)