Scaling Study

Abstract

In this paper I am going to discuss a questionnaire and the results of it. Then I am going to talk about if the responses were valid and reliable from the respondents.

For this assignment I conducted a short questionnaire to my clients at the bank. I am a banker so I felt it was a good idea to ask bank questions from my clients to gather their thoughts about my work and the company they bank with. According to the text, wording of survey questions is the most important item that can result in a misconception and wrong answer for the respondent. This is why it is of utmost importance to thoroughly think out the question and the way it is worded.

Words that are used incorrectly can yield misleading answers. When people take surveys they feel pressured to not ask questions and answer it to the best of their knowledge. This conception of surveys will make them tainted and non beneficial to those holding the survey. It is also difficult to get a person to answer personal questions about themselves such as financial, medical, and family questions. But if it is worded correctly and appears non intrusive, the person may start to open up more. This is the art of survey questions.

A research project can be reliable by using credible sources and educated beings that are very knowledgeable in the field that is being discussed. A valid project could be something that is concluded and cannot have contradiction. So the valid argument has to be obvious to the reader so there would be no other answer for the topic being discussed.

For the first question that I asked one of my clients, I tried an open ended question. This technique makes the subject think and be more involved in the question. An open ended question is one where the respondent has to go into depth. They can not answer just yes or no. So my question was, "What banks have you banked with in the past or current?" The answer to this question gave me a better idea if I was dealing with a loyal client, or someone who is rate shopper and looks around for a bargain rather than a relationship. My customer answered my bank and a local credit union. I found that a majority of my customers bank with a credit union. This is okay to me, because they do offer lower rates than the large corporate banks can, but we offer something they can not. This is convenience. This led into my next survey question.

My next question was a biased question to throw them off a little. I asked, "do you enjoy the convenience that Regions Bank offers you?" I chose a biased question to see how the person would respond. I've done this in the past as a sales techniques and it usually makes them stutter a few words before I get a thorough answer. I already know that I am going to get a yes to this question from everyone. Who would not enjoy convenience and accessibility to their money? Since this is such a one sided question it could not really be considered reliable. The customer may feel pressured to answer yes since it is being conducted by their Regions Bank banker.

Well now I've maneuvered the survey to be in favor of my bank, my next question was wanting to get to know how the person felt about loans. I asked them, "If you knew you would be approved, would you be okay with paying closing cost fees on a home equity loan"? This was a good question I felt because there are a lot of people out there with bad credit that needs loans and would do almost anything for them. I think my results would be a little tainted though, because there are some people that just will not get a loan even if they needed it in life. So they may offset the people that would pay the fees. My customer in particular told me they would not pay closing costs on a home equity loan. Their answer was a shot back at me from the first question. They would simply go to their credit union if they found