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Web Survey Bibliography

Title Using RGI (Respondent Generated Interval) to gather factual information in a web survey
Year 2003
Access date 07.05.2004
Abstract

Respondent-generated intervals (“RGI”), a question item protocol promoted by statisticians Press and Tanur, promises to have a positive impact on survey data quality, both by reducing item nonresponse and by improving the accuracy of estimation.
In this experiment, we put this method (RGI) to test with a sample of electronics engineers each reporting on a unique integrated circuit (chip) design developed in 2002.
The treatment version of the questionnaire (a self-administered web survey) encourages respondents to provide a self-generated interval if they are unsure of the number for the physical quantity requested (e.g., number of transistors on the chip, number of bytes of embedded memory, etc.). Respondents in the control group receive no such encouragement and are just asked to provide the relevant number.
1) This experiment seeks to answer a question: Does the suggestion to provide an RGI reduce item nonresponse?
2) The second objective of this experiment is to contribute to the discussion of whether RGIs can provide more accurate estimates than are obtained by merely asking respondents for one number. Research has shown that when asked for a number whose exact value is unknown, people resort to an “anchoring-and-adjustment heuristic” which often results in biased values. The bias is due to the original anchor value, which acts as a tether preventing sufficient adjustment. Because RGIs promote the reporting of at least two values, this very process might well break the “pull” which the original anchor value has on a respondent’s ability to provide an unbiased estimate.
The purpose of this research is to elicit questions dealing with ways to help respondents reporting factual data to provide unbiased estimates of target quantities. The biases we are talking about here are cognitive in nature and not emotional (e.g., social desirability).

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Year of publication2003
Bibliographic typeConferences, workshops, tutorials, presentations
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Web survey bibliography (4086)

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