This paper emphasises methodology and subject matter. The latter serves to illustrate the former. The paper discusses an investigative assignment from the German Federal Ministry of Commerce which, in order to stimulate the rate of economic growth, proposed a campaign that would encourage people to set up their own businesses. We were to develop an instrument that could identify the groups of people who would perhaps like to become self-employed. Next we were to determine which media could best be used to reach those groups.
This paper emphasises methodology and subject matter. The latter serves to illustrate the former. The paper discusses an investigative assignment from the German Federal Ministry of Commerce which, in order to stimulate the rate of economic growth, proposed a campaign that would encourage people to set up their own businesses. We were to develop an instrument that could identify the groups of people who would perhaps like to become self-employed. Next we were to determine which media could best be used to reach those groups.
But monotony is powerful enough to adulterate the results. Noelle Neumann proved that the influence of monotony was visible even in simple inquiries, for example when ascertaining readership figures of daily newspapers. If the questionnaire was dreary, fewer respondents than before admitted that they read the various newspapers, as opposed to results obtained by a questionnaire design that instigated the respondent's activity. In the course of evaluating secondary empirical data at the Institut fur Demoskopie Allensbach my attention was drawn to the subject of monotony and its effects from another angle.
Monotony and its side-effects have been dealt with in other areas. But monotony is powerful enough to adulterate the results. Noelle Neumann proved that the influence of monotony was visible even in simple inquiries, for example when ascertaining readership figures of daily newspapers. If the questionnaire was dreary, fewer respondents than before admitted that they read the various newspapers, as opposed to results obtained by a questionnaire design that instigated the respondent's activity. In the course of evaluating secondary empirical data at the Institut flir Demoskopie Allensbach my attention was drawn to the subject of monotony and its effects from another angle.
In poll-research we have increasingly to solve functions concerning the character of people. In order to do this we need suitable methods for diagnoses, but specially such methods which are applicable to our current polls, and not only to non-recurring special-missions with a greater frame of charges and time. Therefore we can neither use extensive series of tests nor many other tests which would not correspond to the original task of the questioner. It would also need too much test material and time. Therefore it is doubtful whether the questioned persons would be ready to cooperate (e.g. old women at far off villages). Positively expressed: we do not have to deal with "single-characterology" which describes us a certain person with its own peculiarities. We do quite a different thing, also when characterising: we compare groups of tests, population classes, that means cross sections of questioned people. These are the facts we state. I would suggest to express it clear with the word "society-characterologyâ.