Chapter 10, Problem 32E

Wording the survey Two members of the PTA committee in Exercises 26 and 27 have proposed different questions to ask in seeking parents’ opinions.

Question 1: Should elementary school–age children have to pass high-stakes tests in order to remain with their classmates?

Question 2: Should schools and students be held accountable for meeting yearly learning goals by testing students before they advance to the next grade?

1. a) Do you think responses to these two questions might differ? How? What kind of bias is this?
2. b) Propose a question with more neutral wording that might better assess parental opinion.