Kognitivní vlastnosti sledování citlivých témat v rámci bezpečnostního výzkumu

The aim of the article is to apply the methodology of cognitive approaches to the field of the empirical monitoring of sensitive themes in research (survey) on feelings of security or safety. It is based on the premise that answers to such questions are very prone to various kinds of distortion, whether because of the high emotional charge of the themes or the factor of social desirability. The article explains the problem of sensitive themes and questions with specific reference to the context of security research, and also the basic models of cognitive approaches to the process of answering questions as part of standardised questionnaires. The frame for explanation of the sources and course of influence is the dual situation of questioning, which means that it is both a series of cognitive tasks for respondents on the one hand and as a social meeting between two people on the other. The article then successively analyses the circumstances that have an effect on the process of answering in the phases of interpretation of the question, the retrieval of information from the memory, decision on answer and its adjustment to the possibilities offered. These factors are illustrated by empirical examples.