Teaching · For Teachers

Answer choices with exactly one right pick.

Type the options as respondents see them. The checker reads numeric ranges for overlaps and gaps, checks rating scales for balance and order, and lists each problem with a fix.

Check a questionWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the For Teachers toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

The option check

One check per question. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · For Teachers$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
Problems with the answer choices, each with a fix, and whether numeric ranges are exclusive and complete.
Who it is for
Teacher-researchers, school survey teams, program evaluators and education graduate students.
Format
Browser form. One saved check per question; printed with the problems or as a blank form; CSV across questions; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the For Teachers toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Teachers space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
every answer has exactly one home
Drawn for this page. Good answer choices cover every answer once: no overlaps, no gaps, nothing missing at the ends.

How to use it

  1. Start a check with a code for the question.
  2. Type the question and say how respondents answer.
  3. Enter every option in order; for rating scales, mark each one’s direction.
  4. Fix the problems listed.
  5. Copy the check to a new date and enter the revised options.

Check a question

The checks

Exclusive and complete

Each respondent should find exactly one option that fits (for pick-one questions). Overlapping ranges such as 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 split people at the boundary; gaps and closed top ends leave some people no answer at all.

Balanced scales

A rating scale with more positive than negative options pulls answers upward. Use matched pairs around an optional middle, in order from one end to the other.

What this is not

A check of the question’s wording or reading level. It looks at the answer choices.

Sources

  1. Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method (4th ed.). Wiley: guidelines for closed-ended questions.
  2. Fowler, F. J. (1995). Improving Survey Questions: Design and Evaluation. Sage.
  3. Krosnick, J. A., & Presser, S. (2010). Question and questionnaire design. In P. V. Marsden & J. D. Wright (Eds.), Handbook of Survey Research (2nd ed.). Emerald.
  4. Pew Research Center, Writing survey questions (methods guide).

The example question is made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.