Battery of questions
In survey research, a battery of questions is a collection of several questions that are intended to measure a common target dimension. Batteries of questions are used when individual questions on a subject cannot be formulated with sufficient accuracy.
An example of a battery of questions is asking several questions about the persuasiveness of a text presented to the respondent. The researcher tries to split the dimension “persuasiveness” theory- and empirically (that is, on the basis of considerations and experiences, e.g. from persuasion research ) into sub-dimensions such as “clarity”, “credibility” or “trustworthy” and adds one to each sub-dimension own question. If the construction of the battery of questions is successful, the result is more meaningful than a single question about the perceived persuasiveness would be.
If the individual questions in the questionnaire actually raise the same dimension, they must correlate with one another. This internal consistency (a form of reliability ) can be checked with so-called reliability tests (e.g. Cronbach's alpha ).
The factor analysis is used for the analysis of the main and secondary dimensions, which were collected with a battery of questions .
Footnotes
- ↑ Kurt Holm (1974): Theory of the battery of questions. In: Cologne Journal for Sociology and Social Psychology 26, pp. 316–341.