One method of restricting the coverage of the comparison question so that it will not overlap the relevant question. For example, if a relevant question concerned whether the examinee had stolen anything from an employer, a comparison question that excluded the relevant question by covering another category might involve whether the examinee had ever been dishonest with an authority figure. There is a school of thought that examinees may confuse the relevant questions with the comparison questions unless these two types of questions are designed to avoid any degree of overlap. Research has not supported this hypothesis. See: Amsel (1999); Podlesny & Raskin (1978); Horvath (1988); Horvath & Palmatier (2008). Also, see exclusive (exclusionary) comparison question
