Generalization of Classic Question Order Effects Across Cultures

Questionnaire design is routinely guided by classic experiments on question form, wording, and context conducted decades ago. This article explores whether two question order effects (one due to the norm of evenhandedness and the other due to subtraction or perceptual contrast) appear in surveys of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological Methods & Research Vol. 49; no. 3; pp. 567 - 602
Main Authors: Stark, Tobias H., Silber, Henning, Krosnick, Jon A., Blom, Annelies G., Aoyagi, Midori, Belchior, Ana, Bosnjak, Michael, Clement, Sanne Lund, John, Melvin, Jónsdóttir, Guðbjörg Andrea, Lawson, Karen, Lynn, Peter, Martinsson, Johan, Shamshiri-Petersen, Ditte, Tvinnereim, Endre, Yu, Ruoh-rong
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2020
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Abortion
assimilation
Business
Ciências Sociais::Ciências Políticas [Domínio/Área Científica]
context
contrast
Correlation
cross-cultural
cross-cultural; perceptual contrast; question order effects; questionnaire design; survey methods
Cultural Differences
Cultural Traits
Cultural values
data capture
Datengewinnung
Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Ciências Políticas
Educational Attainment
Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften
Experiments
Foreign Countries
Fragebogen
Generalization
HA Statistics
HM Sociology
interdependent self
international comparison
internationaler Vergleich
Mathematical Methods In Social Sciences
Methods and Techniques of Data Collection and Data Analysis, Statistical Methods, Computer Methods
Perceptions
perceptual contrast
Pregnancy
Private Financial Support
question order effects
questionnaire
questionnaire design
Questionnaires
Questions
Research design
Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Social sciences, sociology, anthropology
Sociologi
Sociology
Sociology and Political Science
Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie
Subtraction
Survey methods
survey research
Test Format
Translation
Umfrageforschung
Unions
Wording
Canada
Netherlands
Sweden
United States
Norway
Japan
Taiwan
Denmark
United Kingdom
Portugal
Germany
Iceland
perceptual contrast
survey methods
question order effects
questionnaire design
cross-cultural
ISSN:0049-1241, 1552-8294, 1552-8294
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Questionnaire design is routinely guided by classic experiments on question form, wording, and context conducted decades ago. This article explores whether two question order effects (one due to the norm of evenhandedness and the other due to subtraction or perceptual contrast) appear in surveys of probability samples in the United States and 11 other countries (Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom; N = 25,640). Advancing theory of question order effects, we propose necessary conditions for each effect to occur, and found that the effects occurred in the nations where these necessary conditions were met. Surprisingly, the abortion question order effect even appeared in some countries in which the necessary condition was not met, suggesting that the question order effect there (and perhaps elsewhere) was not due to subtraction or perceptual contrast. The question order effects were not moderated by education. The strength of the effect due to the norm of evenhandedness was correlated with various cultural characteristics of the nations. Strong support was observed for the form-resistant correlation hypothesis.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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content type line 14
ISSN:0049-1241
1552-8294
1552-8294
DOI:10.1177/0049124117747304