Weaknesses Of Instrument Design

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One of the major reasons why survey research may not be effective is that the survey instruments are less useful than they should be. “Instrument design is a three-phase process with numerous issues within each phase: (a) developing the instrument design strategy, (b) constructing and refining the measurement questions, and (c) drafting and refining the instrument” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014 p. 324). There are several issues with each phase but the four that I believe are the four possible major faults of survey instrument design is: (1) disguising objectives and sponsors, (2) using multiple choice questions, (3) introducing sensitive and ego-involving information too early, and (4) the sources of existing questions.
Disguising objectives and sponsors. In communication instrument design, research is …show more content…

Technology is being used to create, proofread, and refine surveys because the business workforce is changing drastically. Therefore, “companies that specialize in survey research maintain a question bank of pretested questions” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 312). Sourcebooks, clearinghouses, and web sources are data sources that have these pretest instruments available. “Data sources and software sets are available both as downloads and are restricted by researchers. The sources make answering research questions easier by using data already collected, but the problem of missing data is always a challenge” (King, Hernandez, & Lott II, 2012, p. 53).
Existing questions come with some problems. Using borrowed or existing questions may pose a problem due to their reliability and validity. The instruments “may not have reported sampling and testing procedures needed to judge the quality of the measurement scale” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 313). Also, times change and using old questions that are outdated due to their language usage and the way the questions are phrased can cause confusion for the participant.
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