JSM 2005 Online Program

Abstract #304027

This is the preliminary program for the 2005 Joint Statistical Meetings in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Currently included in this program is the "technical" program, schedule of invited, topic contributed, regular contributed and poster sessions; Continuing Education courses (August 7-10, 2005); and Committee and Business Meetings. This on-line program will be updated frequently to reflect the most current revisions.

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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 - #304027
Title:	Negatively Worded Questions Cause Respondent Confusion
Author(s):	Robert Colosi*+
Companies:	U.S. Census Bureau
Address:	4700 Silver Hill Rd STOP 9200, Washington, DC, 20233-9200, United States
Keywords:	Acquiescence ; response set ; negative wording ; self-administered ; response bias
Abstract:	One problem faced by survey methodologists when designing questions for attitudinal surveys continues to be acquiescence, the tendency to respond in the affirmative to survey items irrespective of content. Often, experts attempt to correct for acquiescence by using both positively and negatively worded stems. By doing so, methodologists force respondents to read the question fully and think about answering. At the U.S. Census Bureau, two employee satisfaction questionnaires were self-administered at the same time with the same population implementing a split-panel design. The first questionnaire, designed by the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, uses negatively worded questions one-fourth of the time. The second questionnaire, written by Office of Personnel Management, includes questions worded positively only. This analysis reports that respondents appear confused with the negatively worded items and report inconsistent data for those items. The fix for acquiescence, using negative wording stems, is increasing response bias for these data.

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