How often is often? Testing the meaning of vague quantifiers

Abstract

Survey researchers often wonder about the meaning of vague quantifiers such as "sometimes" or "often" as employed by surveys. This study focuses on assessing the equivalence reliability of the updated Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE), with particular emphasis on whether two parallel forms of items produce similar results (e.g., have equal means, variances, and errors). These analyses examined a set of FSSE questions asked in two different ways- first, with vague quantifiers and, second, with a quantifiable time allocation. This poster will provide details about the methods and results of these analyses using data from the 2014 administration of FSSE.