An Evaluation of a Cognitive Theory of Response-Order Effects in Survey Measurement

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 51, Heft 2, S. 201-219

Abstract

Previous research has documented effects of the order in which response choices are offered to Rs, using closed-ended survey items, but no theory of the psychological sources of these effects has yet been proposed. Such a theory, drawn from a variety of psychological research, is offered. Using data from a split-ballot experiment in the 1984 General Social Survey involving a variant of M. L. Kohn's parental values measure (Class and Conformity: A Study in Values, Homewood, Ill: Dorsey, 1969), some predictions are made about what kind of response order effect would be expected (a primacy effect), & among which Rs it should be strongest (those low in cognitive sophistication). These predictions are confirmed. The "form-resistant correlation" hypothesis is also tested. Although correlations between items are altered by changes in response order, the presence & nature of the latent value dimension underlying these responses is essentially unaffected. 5 Tables, 51 References. AA