Colm A. O'Muircheartaigh

Telescoping of Landmark Events: Implications for Survey Research

Cet article examine une erreur frequemment observee dans les reponses a des questionnaires concernant des evenements personnels : ces erreurs se manifestent par la difficulte a replacer correctement dans le temps certains evenements. Une technique destinee a reduire ce type derreurs consiste a fournir des reperes temporels a travers des evenements marquants de lactualite ou de la vie de la personne interrogee. Larticle discute les possibles biais temporels qui peuvent etre associes a cette technique elle-meme

SURVEY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FREQUENCY OF VAGUELY DEFINED EVENTS: THE EFFECTS OF RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES

Experimental research has shown that the choice of response alternatives can influence responses to questions about the frequency of vaguely defined target events (e.g., feeling an- noyed); the set of response alternatives is treated as information that contributes to the interpretation of the question. In a series of split ballot experiments we investigate whether such effects occur in a large-scale survey context for sets of response alterna- tives that might be used interchangeably by survey researchers. The predicted response shifts were found in our field experi- ments. Those presented with response alternatives discriminating at low frequencies reported fewer of the target episodes than those presented with higher-frequency response alternatives. However, the size of the observed shifts varied from zero to 13 percent and depended on a number of characteristics of the sur- vey, for example, the presence of priming questions and the orientation of the response scales. Response alternatives are not neutral and therefore must be carefully considered when con- structing a survey question.

Temporal Estimation of Major News Events: Re-examining the Accessibility Principle

SUMMARY The way in which people estimate when an event occurred and the accuracy of their estimates are of concern both to psychologists interested in the structure of event memory and to other researchers who, for a variety of reasons, rely on the accuracy of people’s temporal estimates. Over 2,000 subjects were asked to say when two major news events, Thatcher’s resignation and the Hillsborough football disaster, happened. By embedding the questions in a face-to-face survey we hoped to maximize the probability of subjects using a relatively simple estimation heuristic, previously described as the accessibility principle. This predicts that underestimation of elapsed time should be associated with clearer memories. This hypothesis was not corroborated. We discuss which aspects of the accessibility principle can be retained.

Measuring scientific interest: the effect of knowledge questions on interest ratings

Research into the publics interest in, knowledge of and attitudes towards science has captured the attention of politicians and educators. Sample survey research has been employed to assess the diverse aspects of the public understanding of science. However, surveys are subject to various biases that may affect the findings, calling into question both the reliability and the validity of the measures concerned. In this study we look at one common bias—that of context effects. Context effects occur when a question influences responses to later questions. The effects of answering one of four different sets of science questions (physical or life science, and easy or difficult questions) on what people report as their interest in science and what they think science is, were investigated using a split ballot format (n = 2099). Two approaches from social psychology, framing and consistency, are used to predict the effects of these knowledge questions on subsequent responses. Context effects were found and were more in line with the framing explanation. The results signal the need for caution in interpreting findings from surveys of the public understanding of science.

INTENSIFIERS IN BEHAVIORAL FREQUENCY QUESTIONS

Intensifiers, words such as very and extremely, are used to magnify the meaning of the phrases to which they are applied. In a series of studies we investigate how intensifiers in question stems affect response patterns in social surveys. Our research indicates that even apparently important differences in question wording may in some situations have little or no impact; adding an intensifier to a root did not create a response shift for several intensifier/root combinations in large-scale surveys. Using both field and laboratory techniques we explore the situations in which shifts do occur and go some lengths toward describing why this happens. Response shifts were observed for two situations. First, when extreme was applied to physical pain there was a substantial and significant response shift. Second, when respon- dents were asked a question without an intensifier and then had the question repeated immediately afterward with an intensifier, a response shift was produced. In addition to the practical sig- nificance for survey methodologists, these results are important to cognitive psychologists interested in word meaning.

Testing the tightening bond hypothesis: An application of new models for analysing trends in multiway tables

Abstract The tightening bond hypothesis postulates that in modern economies individuals are increasingly allocated to occupations on meritocratic principles. This hypothesis is tested on a set of nine contingency tables of class of job by qualification level for new male recruits to jobs, obtained from the annual Labour Force Survey in Great Britain for the period 1983 1991. A number of statistical models for examining the changes in the association of a pair of variables over the levels of a third variable are described and evaluated. These include the log-multiplicative layer effect model, multiple-group association RC(M) models and ‘levels’ models. All the models fitted indicate a slight loosening of the bond between qualifications and class of job so that the tightening bond hypothesis is rejected with confidence. The effects of the complex sample design used in the surveys are also evaluated; design effects for the parameters measuring changes in the association between class of job and qualification over years are negligible.