Politis PR Tip #18: When to Use Maybe/Undecided, Don’t Know & Does Not Apply
PUBLIC RELATIONS TIPS — TIP NO. 18:
You’d think that crafting a Yes-No question in a questionnaire would be easy, right? Well, not really.
Think about it: Have you ever been asked a Yes/No question and realized that your true answer should be
- I Don’t Know / Undecided, or
- Maybe, or
- Does Not Apply?
When writing simple Yes or No questions in a research study, we recommend giving people the option of responding with at least one other answer besides Yes-No.
Why? Because very few population samples can be divided into two categories, such as Yes or No.
P.S. We recommend a similar approach when crafting True-False questions as well. 