Welcome to Bad Question Challenge Bad questions 1

Welcome to Bad Question Challenge

Bad questions (1) What type of library books do you prefer? • What do we mean by ‘type’? Ø Fiction versus non fiction Ø Westerns, Ø Large romantic novels, fantasy, etc. print versus small • And what if I don’t read library books?

Bad questions (2) Do you think that the council should stop producing a civic newspaper and improve communication through its website? • Two questions in one • Leading • How would you set about improving?

Bad questions (3) Do you agree or disagree that merging district councils with the county council will lead to a better service for customers? • Impossible to answer, it depends • What exactly will you be able to do with the answer?

Bad questions (4) Do you think it is right or wrong to raise council tax to prop up the county’s failing police service? • Leading • Complex issue

Bad questions (5) On a scale of 1 to 5 how would you rate the overall service provided by your landlord? • Is ‘ 1’ a ‘good’ score, or is ‘ 5’ a ‘good’ score? • What exactly will you be able to do with the answer? • ‘Results’ question

Bad questions (6) Where should the council increase spending? Please rank the following services in descending order of importance, from 1 -20? • Difficult to answer and analyse. Easier to choose ‘top five’ • Might not want spending increase • The customer doesn’t always know

Bad questions (7) Overall, how satisfied are you with the housing repairs service? • Leading question. Excluding the possibility of dissatisfaction implicitly leads respondents to answer in a particular way • ‘Results’ question

Bad questions (8) How many hours a day is the local area office open? • Don’t you know already? Avoid testing people • If we are interested in awareness of opening hours, it needs rephrasing

Bad questions (9) Do you find it paradoxical that Ashbourne is smaller than Matlock yet it has more public toilets? • Complex language • Leading • What exactly will you be able to do with the answer?

Bad questions (10) How much do you think the council should charge tenants to rent a flat in Matlock? £ 45 to £ 55 to £ 65 etc…” • Assumes knowledge of the ‘going rate’ • Bands overlap, which box do you tick if your answer is £ 55?

Bad questions (11) How much, if anything, do you earn every month? • Question is intrusive

Bad questions (12) Did you see any litter anywhere in the sports centre today? • Avoid needlessly focusing people on negative things • The council should be on top of this kind of issue

Bad questions (13) What do you think are the most common crimes in this neighbourhood? • ‘Fact’ is more useful than ‘opinion’ • Will respondents understand what we mean by ‘common’, ‘crimes’ and ‘neighbourhood’

Bad questions (14) If the council opened a new sports centre in your area do you think you would use it? • Once again, ‘fact’ is more useful than ‘opinion’. The answer can’t be taken at face value • The result will not be sound basis for a major decision

Bad questions (15) Overall, do you think the service provided was…? Excellent Good Satisfactory Poor • The question is fine, but the scale is biased with only one negative option

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