In this activity you will create a survey. You will ask people what makes them angry, nervous, or frightened. You will also ask about the kinds of feelings they have when they are angry, nervous, or frightened. Your survey also needs questions about how a person deals with these feelings.

You have choices to make as you design your survey. Will you ask the questions and record the answers yourself, or will your survey be self-administered? How do you decide which kind to make?

With a self-administered survey you can interview a lot of people at the same time. On the other hand, all subjects must understand the questions.

The choice is yours.

But a good survey must be written in clear and simple words.

Short questions are better than longer questions.

The order of your questions is important too. If you want to ask personal questions begin with more general ones.

It is better to start with, "What is your date of birth?" than to begin with a question like, "Have you ever gotten so angry that you started a fight?"

Should you use closed or open-ended questions?

Closed-ended questions, with one box for each answer (including "don't know") are easier to answer and easier for you to classify. You miss rich detail with this kind of question.

One last word of advice… questions should help the subject remember things. For example, all questions dealing to one phase of the person's life should be asked together.