Prev Chronic DisPreventing Chronic Disease1545-1151Centers for Disease Control and Prevention158882391327724PCDv22_05_0014Letter to the EditorA Note on “A Catalog of Biases in Questionnaires”HarrowJeffrey JMD, PhDVeterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 8, Patient Safety Center of Inquiry, James A. Haley VA Medical Center, Tampa, Fla42005153200522A302005To the Editor:

The authors of "A Catalog of Biases in Questionnaires" in the January issue (1) provide a useful catalog of questionnaire biases, but in one of their examples, their recommended response is guilty of the same bias. This error occurs in Overlapping Interval.

Example:

How many cigarettes do you smoke per day?

[ ] None  [ ] 5 or less   [ ] 5–25    [ ] 25 or more

The authors' recommended question was:

How many cigarettes do you smoke per day?

[ ] None  [ ] 4 or less  [ ] 5–24    [ ] 25 or more

While this corrects the ambiguity of the first question for respondents who smoke exactly 5 or 25 cigarettes per day, it maintains the ambiguity for nonsmokers. The recommended question should be:

How many cigarettes do you smoke per day?

[ ] None   [ ] 1–4   [ ] 5–24   [ ] 25 or more

Read the author's reply

BCKChoiAWPPakPrev Chronic Dis [serial online]20051Accessed 2004 Dec 15A catalog of biases in questionnaires

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Suggested citation for this article: Harrow JJ. A note on “A Catalog of Biases in Questionnaires” [letter to the editor]. Prev Chronic Dis [serial online] 2005 Apr [date cited]. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2005/apr/05_0014.htm.