Researchers, assessment professionals, and faculty in higher education increasingly depend on survey data from students to make pivotal curricular and programmatic decisions. The surveys collecting these data often require students to judge frequency (e.g., how often), quantity (e.g., how much), or intensity (e.g., how strongly). The response options given for these questions are usually vague and include responses such as “never,” “sometimes,” and “often.” However, the meaning that respondents give to these vague responses may vary. This study aims to determine the efficacy of using vague quantifiers in survey research. More specifically, the purpose of this study is to explore the meaning that respondents ascribe to vague response options and whether or not those meanings vary by student characteristics. Results from this study indicate a high degree of correspondence between vague and numeric response and suggest that students seem to adapt the meaning of “sometimes,” “often,” and “very often” based on the appropriate reference for the question. Overall, findings provide evidence of the utility and appropriateness of using vague response options. Some differences by student characteristics and the implications of these differences are discussed.

中文翻译：

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检查高等教育中模糊量词的含义：“经常”的频率如何？

高等教育的研究人员，评估专家和教职员工越来越依赖学生的调查数据来做出关键的课程和程序决策。收集这些数据的调查通常要求学生判断频率（例如，频率），数量（例如，数量）或强度（例如，强度）。针对这些问题给出的答案选项通常含糊不清，包括“从不”，“有时”和“经常”等答案。但是，受访者对这些模糊回答的含义可能会有所不同。这项研究旨在确定在调查研究中使用模糊量词的功效。更具体地说，本研究的目的是探究受访者赋予模糊响应选项的含义，以及这些含义是否因学生特征而异。这项研究的结果表明，模糊和数字反应之间存在高度的对应关系，并表明学生似乎根据该问题的适当参考来适应“有时”，“经常”和“非常频繁”的含义。总体而言，调查结果提供了使用模糊响应选项的实用性和适当性的证据。讨论了根据学生特征的一些差异以及这些差异的含义。