Designing an 'Empathic Questionnaire' for Organizational Research
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Date
1972
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Abstract
In organizational field research, the investigator often finds that he must earn the trust of organization members before they will provide him with information that they consider threatening to themselves. One way that trust can be earned is by demonstrating some awareness and acceptance of the respondent's life dilemmas. This study tested and found support for the hypothesis that a questionnaire showing that the researchers already knew about key issues in the organization would elicit more information threatening to the respondent than would an instrument based solely on general morale and satisfaction topics.
Description
This study compares two types of questionnaires—event-based and theory-based—to explore how question design affects the disclosure of sensitive information, such as sarcasm, within a boys’ boarding school. The event-based questionnaire, grounded in real organizational events, prompted greater openness. The results suggest that demonstrating familiarity with respondents' lived experiences can help reduce resistance and encourage more candid responses. The findings underline the importance of empathetic research design in uncovering deeper insights into social systems.
Keywords
Event-Based Questionnaire, Theory-Based Questionnaire, Obtrusive Measurement, Threatening Information, Participant-Researcher Distance
Citation
ROSENTHAL, R. Experimenter effects in behaviora research, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1966