This seems like a good approach to get data on what the actual connotations are. There do seem to be two small concerns: First, if a stranger came up to me and asked what I thought about when I heard a certain word and that word was sufficiently abstract, I’d assign a very high probability that it was some religious or ideological group trying to missionize. That could alter how people respond, although I’m not sure exactly how it will do so. The other issue is that if someone asks about a specific word, they probably have a positive view of that word, so desire for politeness might cause one to be more positive when describing what you think.
This seems like a good approach to get data on what the actual connotations are. There do seem to be two small concerns: First, if a stranger came up to me and asked what I thought about when I heard a certain word and that word was sufficiently abstract, I’d assign a very high probability that it was some religious or ideological group trying to missionize. That could alter how people respond, although I’m not sure exactly how it will do so. The other issue is that if someone asks about a specific word, they probably have a positive view of that word, so desire for politeness might cause one to be more positive when describing what you think.