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Analyses of question wording experiments on spending items in the 1984-1986 General Social Surveys show consistent wording effects for several issues. An examination of types of wording change indicates that even minor changes can affect responses. However, analysis of interactions with respondent individual differences shows no consistent pattern. 3 Tables, 5 References. AA

Two images of the voter are examined for factors explaining vote choice. The first image suggests that the voter operates as a consumer in the political environment. In this view, the voter shops for the best personal "value" in candidates based on judgments of short-term economic self-interest. The second image suggests that the voter is concerned about fairness. Results from two surveys suggest that vote choice in the 1984 election for president depended upon citizens' judgments of the fairness of the candidates as well as concerns about each candidate's ability to benefit them. Two types of fairness concerns, concerns about distributions and concerns about procedures, were investigated for their impact on vote choice. Of the two, procedural fairness significantly affected vote choice while distributive fairness did not. The results are discussed with respect to the relationship between procedural and distributive fairness, on the one hand, and American political values, on the other.

Answers to a survey question about general happiness can change when that question follows one on marital happiness: respondents [Rs] may take the general question to ask about aspects of their lives other than their marriages, & as a result, exclude their (mostly happy) marriages from consideration in answering it. This hypothesis is tested via a comparision of responses to two versions of the general happiness question that explicitly say whether marital happiness is to be considered or ignored. Responses of 599 adults in Chicago, Ill, to a telephone interview question about general happiness "aside from your marriage" yielded results similar to those given to the standard general happiness item when it came after the question on marital happiness. Responses to the question of general happiness "including your marriage" gave results quite similar to those elicited by the standard item when it came first. However, reanalysis of the data from studies that first demonstrated the question effect casts doubt on the substraction hypothesis & related models as explanations of the earlier findings. 2 Tables, 20 References. AA

Draws on retrospective self-report data on ages at first use of alcohol & marijuana from nine National Household Surveys of Drug Abuse, 1982-1995 (N = approximately 160,000), to show that estimates of alcohol & marijuana incidence (initiation) during early adolescence decline with increases in time interval between data collection & reference periods. The consistency of this finding by gender & across eight birth cohorts, interviewed at different ages & lengths of retention, supports an interpretation in terms of retrospective reporting bias. An exponential decay model is applied to adjust estimates for response bias & use the model to show how bias distorts trends in alcohol & marijuana incidence, 1961-1990. An analysis of changes in lifetime-incidence & age-at-first-use reports of birth cohorts as they age suggests that forward telescoping accounts for most underreporting of early alcohol use, & intentional concealment accounts for most underreporting of marijuana use. 4 Tables, 2 Figures, 1 Appendix, 57 References. Adapted from the source document.