GENERAL VERSUS ELABORATED QUESTIONS IN AN EMPLOYEE OPINION SURVEY

In writing questions for surveys, elaboration involves adding qualific ations so that the respondent knows more clearly what kind of informat ion is being requested. In a within-subjects survey experiment conduct ed in a large organization several work-related issues were examined u sing both general and elaborated questions. Results showed that when s ubjects were given more specific questions-ones which made certain asp ects of an issue more salient to them-responses were less positive. Re sults support the observation that if survey questions do not make cer tain aspects of an issue salient to the respondent, they will respond in generalities which may not reflect their true opinion.