The finance committee of St. Dunstan's Church has reported a fall in the level of donations to the church at Sunday services, despite the fact that attendance has not declined. In an effort to boost donations, the committee has decided to conduct personal interviews of all church members in their homes to determine each member's habits regarding donations to the church.
a. How might this survey method bias the results of the study? Each member of the committee has been given a questionnaire from which to conduct the personal interviews. The first four questions are as follows:
(i) How often do you attend Sunday services per year?
(ii) Do you realize that the church's only form of income is the donations from its members?
(iii) Do you donate to the church every Sunday?
(iv) How much, on average, do you donate?
b. How would the following factors affect the results of this study?
(i) Question order
(ii) Question wording
(iii) Subject matter
(iv) Interviewer's affiliation to the church