Authors
Roger Tourangeau, Mick P Couper, Frederick Conrad
Publication date
2004/9/1
Journal
Public opinion quarterly
Volume
68
Issue
3
Pages
368-393
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Description
We present the results of six experiments that demonstrate the impact of visual features of survey questions on the responses they elicit, the response process they initiate, or both. All six experiments were embedded in Web surveys. Experiments 1 and 2 investigate the effects of the placement of nonsubstantive response options (for example, “No opinion” and “Don’t know” answer options) in relation to the substantive options. The results suggest that when these options are not differentiated visually (by a line or a space) from the substantive options, respondents may be misled about the midpoint of the scale; respondents seemed to use the visual rather than the conceptual midpoint of the scale as a reference point for responding. Experiment 3, which varied the spacing of the substantive options, showed a similar result. Responses were pushed in the direction of the visual midpoint when it fell to one side of …
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