Verbal Paradata and Survey Question Content: How Question Sensitivity and Cognitive Complexity Influence the Way Answers (and Nonanswers) to Survey Questions Are Delivered

• Activity Number: 140
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 2, 2010 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Matt Jans*+
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: paradata ; interview ; sensitive questions ; complex questions ; psychology of survey response ; paralinguistics

Abstract

Speech, voice, and question-answering behavior are verbal paradata; facets of the survey process that are not captured by default. Verbal paradata should reflect respondents' psychological states, which affect survey responses in turn. For 185 interviews from the Reuters/Univ of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, 4 questions per respondent were transcribed and coded. Voice pitch was extracted with Praat. Questions were selected for sensitivity and complexity producing four repeated measures; sensitive and complex, sensitive but noncomplex, nonsensitive but complex, nonsensitive and noncomplex. There is evidence of psychological resource and conversationality mechanisms, through which respondents reduce verbal paradata on psychologically demanding questions rather than increasing them as a sign of trouble. The use of paradata in understanding psychological response processes is discussed.