Web Survey Bibliography
Title The Impact of Scale Direction, Alignment and Length on Responses to Rating Scale Questions in a Web Survey
Author Keusch, F.; Liu, M.; Yan, T.
Year 2016
Access date 01.06.2016
Abstract
Although rating scale questions are used extensively in surveys and have received much research attention in the literature, the direction of the rating scales has not been as extensively studied as have other design features. Previous research found mean shifts and changes in proportions endorsing various response options under different scale directions, indicating that respondents are more likely to select response options at the start of the scale, regardless of whether the response options are presented in an ascending order (i.e., the scale runs from the positive pole or highest level to the negative pole or lowest level) or descendingorder (i.e., running from the negative pole or lowest level to the positive pole or highest level). However, it is not quite clear yet, whether this effect is independent of other scale features, such as alignment of the scale (i.e., whether the scale is presented vertically or horizontally) and the number of scale points. Also more research is needed on the influence of scale direction on other properties of the resulting answers (e.g., factor structures, internal consistency of resulted factors). In two experiments in a nonprobability online panel, respondents were randomly assigned to answer two sets of multi-item batteries (4 items on traditionalism and 4 items on political efficacy) on a descending scale or an ascending scale. Preliminary analyses confirms that the scale direction significantly affects resultant survey responses by pushing answers to the beginning of the scale. We found that scale alignment (vertical vs. horizontal presentation of the scale) and number of scale points (5-point vs. 7-point) does not interact with scale direction but that respondents who speeded through the questionnaire were particularly prone to the scale direction effect. Further analysis will focus on the influence of scale direction on factors structure and internal consistency of the resulted factors.
Access/Direct link Conference Homepage (abstract)
Year of publication2016
Bibliographic typeConferences, workshops, tutorials, presentations
Web survey bibliography - The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) 71st Annual Conference, 2016 (107)
- Optimizing Self-response for the 2020 Census ; 2016; Bentley, M.
- Improving Data Quality in a Web Survey of Youth and Teens ; 2016; Horton, V. M.; Branson, R.; Phillips, B. T.; Fowlkes, E.
- Impact of Field Period Length and Contact Attempts on Representativeness for Web Survey ; 2016; Bertoni, N.; Turakhia, C.; Magaw, R.; Ackermann, A.
- Have You Taken Your Survey Yet? Optimum Interval for Reminders in Web Panel Surveys ; 2016; Kanitkar, K. N.; Liu, D.
- Respondent Processing of Rating Scales and the Scale Direction Effect ; 2016; Caporaso, A.
- The Effects of Pictorial vs. Verbal Examples on Survey Responses ; 2016; Sun, H.; Bertling, J.; Almonte, D.
- Evaluating Grid Questions for 4th Graders; 2016; Maitland, A.
- Mixing Modes: Challenges (and Tradeoffs) of Adapting a Mailed Paper Survey to the Web ; 2016; Wilkinson-Flicker, S.; McPhee, C. B.; Medway, R.; Kaiser, A.; Cutts, K.
- An Examination of How Survey Mode Affect Eligibility, Response and Health Condition Reporting Rates...; 2016; Stern, M. J.; Ghandour, R.
- Investigating Measurement Error through Survey Question Placement ; 2016; Wilson, A.; Wine, J.; Janson, N.; Conzelmann, J.; Peytcheva, E.
- Instructions in Self-administered Survey Questions: Do They Improve Data Quality or Just Make the Questionnaire...; 2016; Redline, C. D.; Zukerberg, A.; Owens, C.; Ho, A.
- Usability Testing within Agile Process; 2016; Holland, T.
- Exploring Why Web Surveys Take Longer to Complete on Smartphones than PCs: Findings from a Within-subjects...; 2016; Antoun, C.; Cernat, A.
- Making Mobile Web Surveys Accessible; 2016; Malakhoff, L.
- Association of Eye Tracking with Other Usability Metrics ; 2016; Olmsted, E. L.
- Cognitive Probing Methods in Usability Testing – Pros and Cons; 2016; Nichols, E. M.
- Grids and Online Surveys: Do More Complex Grids Induce Survey Satisficing? Evidence from the Gallup...; 2016; Wang, Me.; McCutcheon, A. L.
- Assessing the Accuracy of 51 Nonprobability Online Panels and River Samples: A Study of the Advertising...; 2016; Yang,Y.;Callegaro,M.;Yang,Y.;Callegaro,M.;Chin,K.;Yang,Y.;Villar,A.;Callegaro, M.; Chin, K.; Krosnick...
- Calculating Standard Errors for Nonprobability Samples when Matching to Probability Samples ; 2016; Lee, Ad.; ZuWallack, R. S.
- Communicating Data Use and Privacy: In-person versus Web based methods for message testing ; 2016; Clark Fobia, A.; Hunter Childs, J. E.
- User Experience and Eye-tracking: Results to Optimize Completion of a Web Survey and Website Design ; 2016; Walton, L.; Ricci, K.; Libman Barry, A.; Eiginger, C.; Christian, L. M.
- Estimated-control Calibrated Estimates from Nonprobability Surveys; 2016; Dever, J. A.
- Decomposing Selection Effects in Non-probability Samples ; 2016; Mercer, A. W.; Keeter, S.; Kreuter, F.
- The Effect of Emphasizing the Web Option in a Mixed-mode Establishment Survey ; 2016; O'Brien, J.; Rajapaksa, S.; Schafer, B.; Langetieg, P.
- A Multi-phase Exploration Into Web-based Panel Respondents: Assessing Differences in Recruitment, Respondents...; 2016; Redlawsk, D.; Rogers, K.; Borie-Holtz, D.
- Effect of Clarifying Instructions on Response to Numerical Open-ended Questions in Self-administered...; 2016; Kumar Chaudhary, A.; Israel, G. D.
- Exploring the Feasibility of Using Facebook for Surveying Special Interest Populations ; 2016; Lee, C.; Jang, S.
- National Estimates of Sexual Minority Women Alcohol Use through Web Based Respondent Driven Sampling...; 2016; Farrell Middleton, D.; Iachan, R.; Freedner-Maguire, N.; Trocki, K.; Evans, C.
- Bringing Fair Market Rent Surveys into the 21st Century – Evaluating the Effectiveness of MSG...; 2016; Dayton, J.; Brassell, T.; Cooper, V.; Dion, R.; Williams, R.
- Measuring Survey Behavior of Smartphone Users; 2016; Luks, S.; Phillips, R.
- Practical Considerations for Using Vignettes to Evaluate Survey Items ; 2016; Steiger, D. M.; Williams, Do.; Edwards, W. S.; Cantor, D.; Truman, J.
- Using Web Panels to Quantify the Qualitative: The National Center for Health Statistics Research and...; 2016; Scanlon, P. J.
- Impact of Field Period Length in the Estimates of Sexual Victimization in a Web-based Survey of College...; 2016; Berzofsky, M.; Peterson, K.; Shook-Sa, B. E.; Lindquist, C.; Krebs, C.
- Longitudinal Online Ego-centric Social Network Data Collection with EgoWeb 2.0 ; 2016; Amin, A.; Kennedy, D.
- Influences on Item Response Times in a Multinational Web Survey ; 2016; Phillips, B. T.; Kolenikov, S.; Howard Ecklund, E.; Ackermann, A.; Brulia, A.
- QR Codes for Survey Access: Is It Worth It?; 2016; Allen, L.; Marlar, J.
- An Exploration of the Relationship between Usability Testing and Data Verification ; 2016; Langer Tesfaye, C.; Kurmlavage, V.
- Beyond the Survey: Improving Data Insights and User Experience with Mobile Devices ; 2016; Graham, P.; Lew, G.
- User Experience Considerations for Contextual Product Surveys on Smartphones ; 2016; Sedley, A.; Mueller, H.
- The Differential Effect of Mobile-friendly Surveys on Data Quality; 2016; Horwitz, R.
- Embedding Survey Questions within Non-research Mobile Apps: A Method for Collecting High-quality Data...; 2016; Bapna, V.; Antoun, C.
- Does Changing Monetary Incentive Schemes in Panel Studies Affect Cooperation? A Quasi-experiment on...; 2016; Schaurer, I.; Bosnjak, M.
- Survey Mode and Mail Method: A Practical Experiment in Survey Fielding for a Multi-round Survey ; 2016; Sullivan, B. D.; Duda, N.; Bogen, K.; Clusen, N. A.; Wakar, B.; Zhou, H.
- Web Probing for Question Evaluation: The Effects of Probe Placement ; 2016; Fowler, S.; Willis, G. B.; Moser, R. P.; Townsend, R. L. M.; Maitland, A.; Sun, H.; Berrigan, D.
- Early-bird Incentives: Results From an Experiment to Determine Response Rate and Cost Effects ; 2016; De Santis, J.; Callahan, R.; Marsh, S.; Perez-Johnson, I.
- Using Cash Incentives to Help Recruitment in a Probability Based Web Panel: The Effects on Sign Up Rates...; 2016; Krieger, U.
- Assessing Changes in Coverage Bias of Web Surveys a s Internet Access Increases in the United States...; 2016; Sterrett, D.; Malato, D.; Benz, J.; Tompson, T.; English, N.
- Timing is Everything: Discretely Discouraging Mobile Survey Response through the Timing of Email Contacts...; 2016; Richards, A.; C.; Shook-Sa, B. E.; C.; Berzofsky, M.; Smith, A. C.
- Dynamic Instructions in Check-All-That-Apply Questions ; 2016; Kunz, T.; Fuchs, M.
- Patterns of Unit and Item Nonresponse in a Multinational Web Survey ; 2016; Ackermann, A.; Howard Ecklund, E.; Phillips, B. T.; Brulia, A.