Key words: human perception, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Simple Multiple choice (SMC), Modified Multiple-choice (MMC)

Abstract

This study was based on the results from three survey research studies on social issues carried out using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP, Saaty 1980). Surveys 1 and 2 respectively consisted of triplicate questions on a particular issue which were formatted using the Multiple-choice (MC) method and the AHP; Survey 3 consisted of two pairs of questions on two different issues that were formatted using the Ranking method and the AHP.

INTRODUCTION

Questionnaire design for survey research, such as public opinion polls, constitutes one of the biggest challenges for survey researchers in terms of accuracy in measuring respondents’ perceptions. Consequently, many ways of asking questions have been proposed and much discussion has been generated. One rating scale – called a Feeling Thermometer – was extensively used in survey questionnaires, which ranges from 0, the coldest feeling toward alternatives, to 100, the hottest, with 50, being neutral. In surveys, this method asks respondents to express their perceptions by indicating their “temperature” for each alternative for a given question. Although this method helps respondents precisely clarify their judgments for each alternative, consistency among responses to the alternatives is not always satisfactory.

A more traditional method for measuring respondents’ perceptions is the Multiple choice question format, which has been thought to be well suited to questionnaire formatting because respondents find the questions easy to answer and they allow researchers to easily identify the main concerns of the respondents. This method takes two different forms: one is Simple Multiple-choice (SMC); the other is Modified Multiple- choice (MMC). In the SMC format, respondents must choose one from among the given alternatives. The SMC identifies only the most important alternative for each respondent, thus preventing the respondent from expressing his or her preference concerning a selected alternative over the others. Moreover, no information regarding the relationship among the non-selected alternatives is derived. In the MMC format, respondents have the option of indicating their top-two (or more) alternatives.