A key element in the success or failure of surveys is the way that questions are worded. De Vaus (2002) provides a handy checklist that can help mitigate poorly pitched questions... The following checklist to guide the wording of questions may be useful : • Is the language simple? • Can the question be shortened? • Is the question double-barrelled? • Is the question leading? • Is the question negative? • Is the respondent likely to have the necessary knowledge? • Will the words have the same meaning to everyone? • Is there a prestige bias? • Is the question ambiguous? • Is the question too precise? • Is the frame of reference for the question sufficiently clear? • Does the question artificially create opinions? • Is personal or impersonal wording preferable? • Is the question wording unnecessarily detailed or objectionable? • Does the question have dangling alternatives? • Does the question contain gratuitous qualifiers? • Is the question a ‘dead giveaway’?