Research Methods in Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management

Leading questions

A leading question is one in which the respondent is guided to give a particular

answer by the nature of the question. This is clearly unacceptable and leads to the

validity of the whole survey being brought into question. For example, ‘Most people

like to holiday abroad nowadays; would you?’ This is a leading question because it is

more difficult to answer no than yes. To answer no implies that you are different to

‘most’ people. These types of questions essentially put words into the mouth of the

respondent. It should not be easier to reply ‘yes’ than to say ‘no’ or vice versa.