JSM 2005 - Toronto

Abstract #303267

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Legend: = Applied Session, = Theme Session, = Presenter
Activity Number: 197
Type: Contributed
Date/Time: Monday, August 8, 2005 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
Abstract - #303267
Title: When More Is Less: A Study on the Effects of Providing Definitions to Everyday Terms on Data Quality
Author(s): Ting Yan*+
Companies: University of Maryland
Address: 1218 Lefrak Hall, College Park, MD, 20742, United States
Keywords: Measurement error ; Data quality ; pragmatic effects ; definitions
Abstract:

Research has shown that respondents can interpret seemingly straightforward questions quite differently. Simple words such as "you" and "child" meant different things to different respondents. In addition, respondents can interpret questions differently than what survey researchers intended; the mapping problem occurs with ordinary concepts such as "job." Providing definitions seem to be a solution; however, while this approach may promote uniform interpretation, its drawbacks go beyond producing lengthy interviews. This study investigates the possible effects of providing definitions to everyday terms. Grice's maxim of Manner enjoins speakers to be brief, orderly, clear, and unambiguous. Providing definitions to everyday terms might appear redundant and prolific, violating the maxim. Consequently, respondents would read between lines, trying to generate inferences to account for survey researchers' apparent redundancy and prolixity. If deviating from survey researchers' intention, these inferences would lead to additional measurement error and lower the survey data quality. Data from an A-CASI survey will be analyzed to test the abovementioned hypotheses.

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