Title: Types of questions
Course: UGQuants (SSPS) > Section: Survey Design

Types of questions

Broadly speaking, there are five general question types used in surveys relating to respondent behaviour, beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and attributes.

Behaviour questions | Questions relating to behaviour seek to establish what respondents do.  An example of such a type of question is “Are you a member of a political organisation at the moment”? Questions relating to behaviour should not be used to try and understand respondents’ beliefs or attitudes for what people think and believe is not always reflected in what they actually do.
Belief questions | Questions relating to beliefs seek to establish what respondents believe is true or false. For example, ‘The number of people living on the streets in London has increased in the past five years – true/false.’ It is important to note that questions relating to beliefs are not concerned with the accuracy of respondents beliefs but seek only to establish what respondents think is true.
Knowledge questions | Questions relating to knowledge seek to establish respondents’ knowledge of facts. For example, ‘Approximately how many people are currently living on the streets in London?’ Unlike belief questions, knowledge questions are concerned with the accuracy of respondents’ beliefs.
Attitude questions | Questions relating to attitudes are distinguishable from those relating to beliefs as they seek to establish what respondents think is desirable as opposed to what they believe to be true.  For example, ‘I think anyone with a conviction for drink driving should be banned indefinitely – Agree, Neutral, Disagree.’
Attribute questions | Questions relating to attributes seek to obtain information about respondent characteristics.  A range of information is typically sought, including gender, age, income, occupation, education and ethnicity.  An example of such a question is “What is your occupation?”