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Posted by Mike Curtis on January 28, 2000 at 07:43:21:
In Reply to: We will now ask you some screening questions... posted by Scott W. Spain on January 27, 2000 at 12:09:53:
It seems to me that terms like "screen" and "quota" are words we use as researchers that have nothing to do with the respondent, and they have no business in the questionnaire. The fact is, they weren't screening you for participation in a survey, you DID participate in a survey. It may only have been two questions long, and if you had answered differently it may have been 20 questions long, but nonetheless it was a survey.
So, if you ask a respondent to participate in a survey rather than a screening process, that should be adequate. If the survey could vary dramatically in length depending on whether they get by the screening criteria, you probably have to address this in some way. You don't want to ask them to participate in a 20 minute interview, then terminate them after 2 questions and say "thanks for your time!". Yo probably need to say something along the lines of, "depending on your answers, this survey could take anywhere from 2 to 20 minutes". Better yet, since data collection over the Internet is essentially "free", why not allow everyone to complete the survey (except perhaps us fiendish researchers) and do your screening post hoc?
I realize that this doesn't cover the issue of recruiting screeners for focus groups or clinics, but it doesn't sound like that was the intent of the survey you participated in anyway.
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