PART I
THE THREE-STEP PROCEDURE TO DESIGN REQUESTS FOR ANSWERS
In this part, we explain a three-step procedure for the design of questions or as we call it requests for answers. We distinguish between concepts-by-intuition, for which obvious questions can be formulated, and concepts-by-postulation, which are formulated on the basis of concepts-by-intuition. A common mistake made by researchers is that they do not indicate explicitly how the concepts-by-postulation they use are operationalized in concepts-by-intuition. They immediately formulate questions they think are proper ones. For this reason, many survey instruments are not clear in their operationalization or even do not measure what they are supposed to measure.
In this part, we suggest a three-step approach that, if properly applied, will always lead to a measurement instrument that measures what is supposed to be measured.
The three steps are:
1. Specification of the concept-by-postulation in concepts-by-intuition (Chapter 1)
2. Transformation of concepts-by-intuition in statements indicating the requested concept (Chapter 2)
3. Transformation of statements into questions (Chapter 3)
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