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Activity Number: 238 - Instrumentation and Data Quality
Type: Contributed
Date/Time: Monday, July 31, 2017 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
Abstract #324721 View Presentation
Title: Exploring the Effectiveness of Indirect Questioning in Reducing Social Desirability Bias
Author(s): Ashley Clark* and Derek Wietelman and Naveed Paydar and John Rupp and John D. Graham
Companies: Indiana University and Indiana University and Grid Alternatives and Indiana University and Indiana University
Keywords: measurement error ; social desirability ; public opinion ; attitudes ; energy
Abstract:

Social desirability bias results from answering questions in a way that is designed to paint oneself in a positive light or to avoid association with negatively viewed attitudes or behaviors. This bias pervades a variety of self-reported data. Indirect questioning is a low burden technique that may reduce this bias. It involves asking participants to report about the attitudes or behaviors of "other people" rather than themselves under the assumption that participants project their own attitudes and behaviors onto others and feel more comfortable reporting socially undesirable responses about others. There has been little research on the effectiveness of indirect questioning (Fisher, 1993) and whether it may be more or less effective among specific subgroups. With data from an Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs web survey of 2,833 US adults from GfK's KnowledgePanel, we compare univariate and multivariate regression estimates of support for a local fracking project using indirect and direct questions. We also model the difference in responses as a function of attitudinal, demographic, and behavioral covariates to explore effectiveness by subgroup.


Authors who are presenting talks have a * after their name.

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