Filling in a research questionnaire means coming into contact with the researchers' assumptions. In this sense filling in a questionnaire may be described as a learning situation. In this paper I carry out discourse analysis of selected questionnaire items from a number of studies, in order to highlight underlying values and assumptions, and their ideological import. These studies all attempted to investigate attitudes that Greek pupils show towards fellow-pupils defined as "different". The survey questions are organized in terms of types of diversity, and the data is interpreted through the concept of exclusion and the ideology of normality. I argue that a number of items in the questionnaires embody assumptions likely to encourage attitudes and practices potentially leading to the marginalization of children defined as "different". Finally I suggest alternative approaches to researching pupils' attitudes and point out implications for research training. (Contains 7 notes.)