Comparing Questions with Agree/Disagree Response Options to Questions with Item-Specific Response Options

Authors

  • Willem Saris ESADE, Ramon Llull University
  • Melanie Revilla ESADE, Ramon Llull University
  • Jon A. Krosnick Stanford University
  • Eric M. Shaeffer Ohio State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2010.v4i1.2682

Keywords:

Quality of Agree/disagree scales, item specific scales, Split ballot MTMM

Abstract

Although Agree/Disagree (A/D) rating scales are hugely popular in the social sciences, a large body of research conducted during more than five decades has documented the bias that results from acquiescence in responses to these items. This may be a reason to prefer questions with Item Specific (IS) response options, but remarkably little research has explored whether responses to A/D rating scale questions are indeed of lower quality than responses to questions with IS response options. Using a research design that combines the advantages of a random assignment between-subjects experiment and the multitrait-multimethod approach in the context of representative sample surveys, we found that responses to A/D rating scale questions indeed had much lower quality than responses to comparable questions offering IS response options. These results attest to the superiority of questions with IS response options.

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Published

2010-05-01

How to Cite

Saris, W., Revilla, M., Krosnick, J. A., & Shaeffer, E. M. (2010). Comparing Questions with Agree/Disagree Response Options to Questions with Item-Specific Response Options. Survey Research Methods, 4(1), 61–79. https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2010.v4i1.2682

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