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ERIC Number: EJ1189046
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1364-5579
EISSN: N/A
Scale Direction Effects in Agree/Disagree and Item-Specific Questions: A Comparison of Question Formats
Höhne, Jan Karem; Krebs, Dagmar
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, v21 n1 p91-103 2018
The effect of the response scale direction on response behavior is a well-known phenomenon in survey research. While there are several approaches to explaining how such response order effects occur, the literature reports mixed evidence. Furthermore, different question formats seem to vary in their susceptibility to these effects. We therefore investigate the occurrence of response order effects in Agree/Disagree (A/D) and Item-Specific (IS) questions. We conducted an experiment among n = 930 students in which we varied the scale direction (decremental vs. incremental) within A/D and IS questions and asked respondents to evaluate the questionnaires. The results reveal response order effects within the A/D but not within the IS question format. Furthermore, respondent's evaluations suggest that completion of the IS questionnaires requires more consideration than the completion of the A/D questionnaires. Altogether, our findings indicate that IS questions are more robust against response order effects than A/D questions.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A