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A STATISTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MEASURING CONTEXTUAL FAMILIARITY IN QUALITATIVE SURVEY RESPONSES

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  • Rahim Mahmoudvand,
  • Fatemeh Moameri
Rahim Mahmoudvand
Department of Statistics, Faculty of Science, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan Iran - Department of Economics and Business Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
Fatemeh Moameri
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan Iran
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/ijas-17401

Published 2026-05-16

Keywords

  • Qualitative survey,
  • Validity,
  • Familiarity

How to Cite

Mahmoudvand, R., & Moameri, F. (2026). A STATISTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MEASURING CONTEXTUAL FAMILIARITY IN QUALITATIVE SURVEY RESPONSES. Italian Journal of Applied Statistics. https://doi.org/10.36253/ijas-17401

Copyright (c) 2024 Rahim Mahmoudvand, Fatemeh Moameri

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Qualitative surveys aimed at evaluating various phenomena are widely conducted across diverse fields. However, many such surveys often overlook critical methodological issues that affect the reliability and validity of their results. A common challenge is respondents’ limited familiarity with the subject matter, which can bias survey outcomes. This study introduces a novel approach to measure respondent familiarity in qualitative surveys by analyzing survey content to derive a familiarity index ranging from zero to one, where higher values indicate greater familiarity. Two estimators are proposed: one using a classical framework and the other a Bayesian one. The applicability and effectiveness of this approach are demonstrated through a case study assessing service quality at a public university in Iran. The results indicate a familiarity measure of approximately 0.26, revealing a significant gap in respondent familiarity and emphasizing the importance of incorporating such measures to highlight potential limitations in the validity of qualitative survey findings.

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