Q1. "Is cost a factor in your decision to make sustainable choices?" (1)Yes (2)No
Q1. "Is cost a factor in your decision to make sustainable choices?" (1)Yes (2)No
Concerning this question I am worried about the fact that "a factor" is to vague and does not measure how important is the factor in question. i.e we won't know if cost influences a little bit or a lot their decision. Therefore I suggest that we change it for
In which proportion does cost influence your decision to make sustainable choices? OR
How would you measure the influence of the cost on your decision to make sustainable choices on a scale from 1 to 5 (or 3 or 4 etc)
and then we should find a nice way for different answers (which I haven't found) and we can decide if we define 1 to 5 with numbers or with words, like 1 = cost is the only factor that influences my decision, 2= cost is one but not the major factor that influences my decision, 3= cost is a minor factor 4=i don't consider the cost when taking such a decision
or something like that but better said!!!
Yes, the question is good, but the measure may not be detailed enough. Since its currently a binary measure, it may tend to sort out the survey participants into neat groups of "cost-conscious" and "not-cost-conscious".
I think gathering data using a 1-5 point scale would be better. If a Y/N measure turns out to be necessary, it may still be possible to convert a 1-5 scale to a binary scale (i.e. values 1-2 = Yes, 4-5 = No...)
So adding to CarolineJankech's idea:
(1) Very Important (2) Important (3) Neutral (4) Not important (5) Not at all important
...which would also mean we would have to change Q1 into something like "How important is cost in your decision to make sustainable choices?"
I am worried about the words "sustainable choices." There is a lot of misinterpretation of the term within the general public which could skew our survey results. For example one person might think that recycling is a sustainable choice when it is not (the things you recycle cannot be 100% used again). In this case I think it would be better to change "sustainable choices" to something like "choices that reduce your impact on the environment."
Could we for example start the section of the survey by giving a definition of what sustainable choices are? Then we would ask the people to answer the questions considering our definition... I don't know if it is possible!
I agree with CarolineJankech and NielChah idea about the way to structure the question.If we want to measure the relationship between cost and sustainabilty influences, it is good to structure the answer like NielChan put it(1) Very Important (2) Important (3) Neutral (4) Not important (5) Not at all important. In a way, it is good to ask opinion related questions because we want to know the personal feelings of the citizens on sustainalibity. But if we are going to ask questions about cost and its relation to sustainalibility, it needs to be combined with questions that would also measure individual opinions on quantative matters. For example, if we want to measure how cost effects sustanability, perhaps we can ask: would you prefer to buy an expensive type of food that is sustainable in relation a cheaper one that is not? Answer: yes or no.
What exactly are we measuring here? - we want to know if price influences a persons food purchasing choices related to sustainable products. So even if we know how important price is, it may be simpler for the person to simply say that they do our do not buy food that is sustainable if it is too expensive. Thus perhaps this is better:
Do you avoid purchasing sustainable food products because of their price difference from non-sustainable products even if you prefer the sustainable choice?
Yes or No
Neil and Caroline, you two are right on the ball with regards to the ability to convert the answer to binary after the fact. Disregard my last two comments. I still think that we need to make questions with potential answers that give us data usuable to determine individual sustainable choice preferences.
How about this: How important is price in deciding to purchase sustainable products?
Important Somewhat important Neutral Somewhat not important Not Important AND Not applicable
The not applicable gives us a category which shows who does not buy sustainable food. This divides the population and then tells us how important it is to people deciding to make sustainable choices. - Do people who want to make sustainable choices not due to cost (this divides them from those who simply do not make sustainable choices).
I am not sure if this makes sense but I think that 'sustainable choices' could be specified simply because there is an enormous difference between locally grown grapes and sustainable windows or thermo heating for homes.
I think the idea of providing a scale for answers is the best way to go and I think Aasrondeep Bains suggestions of including Not applicable is greats as it factors those who choose not to opt for sustainable choices.
Staying away from incorporating food in the question is very important, in my opinion, especially since there are so many sustainable choices that do not include food but still cost money- ie passive solar design for homes, triple glazed windows, transportation options
The base of what I want to know (and hopefully what everyone else is aiming for) from this question is how money impacts people's ability/motivation to make sustainable choices so I think we need to keep the wording simple. I think something along the lines of the original questions with a answer scale would be great
Yes, good observation on including a missing-value for people to choose! That could be something to keep in mind for our other survey questions as well. Also, yes it is important to define what a "sustainable choice" in fact is. I'm sorry if I missed an idea that someone mentioned above. How is your guys' approval for this question then?
Q1. "Is cost a factor in your decision to make choices that reduce your impact on the environment?" (1) Very Important (2) Important (3) Neutral (4) Not important (5) Not at all important (6) Not Applicable (coded as a "missing-value")
Niel Chah, the last question your suggested is very well phrased, i was going to mention that we should include a not applicable option, so I am glad that you have done so. This could definitely be a final draft of this question.
Q1. "How important is cost in your decision to make choices that reduce your impact on the environment?" (1) Very Important (2) Important (3) Neutral (4) Not important (5) Not at all important (6) Not Applicable
I just realized that the phrasing of the question was a bit off.
I think the final way that Niel posed this question is right on the mark. Although, reading it again, I think we need to make the wording a little better. I think it was brought up earlier that saying something along the lines of "...decision to make choices..." makes things complicated. "How important is cost when making choices that reduce your impact on the environment?"
maybe that is too simple, but I think you get my idea.