Asking Difficult Questions: Task Complexity Increases the Impact of Response Alternatives
- 1 May 1992
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in European Journal of Social Psychology
- Vol. 22 (3) , 309-312
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420220309
Abstract
In providing behavioural frequency reports, respondents use the range of the response alternatives as a frame of reference, resulting in higher estimates on scales that offer high rather than low values. The present study demonstrates that the size of this effect increases with increasing question difficulty.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- What mediates the impact of response alternatives on frequency reports of mundane behaviors?Applied Cognitive Psychology, 1990
- Judgments of relationship satisfaction: Inter‐ and intraindividual comparisons as a function of questionnaire structureEuropean Journal of Social Psychology, 1988
- Answering Autobiographical Questions: The Impact of Memory and Inference on SurveysScience, 1987
- Response Scales: Effects of Category Range on Reported Behavior and Comparative JudgmentsPublic Opinion Quarterly, 1985