Signed Versus Unsigned Questionnaire

The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether or not the signing of a student's own name to a questionnaire would affect his responses to items on the questionnaire. The study should be of interest to teachers and investigators who are seeking data about the truthfulness of the responses to statements in a questionnaire. Numerous criticisms and objections have been directed at the question naire technique. Some of these criticisms and objections have been supported by experimental data while others have not been so supported. The claim is made by some investigators that anonymity is necessary for honesty in responses. Sufficient experimental proof for this statement, however, seems to be lacking. Fischer1 states: "The present writer is aware of only two studies in which the influence of signatures upon questionnaire data has been investigated." Obviously additional studies are needed in order to draw more valid conclusions concerning this particular aspect of the questionnaire method.