Does Mentioning "Some People" and "Other People" in a Survey Question Increase the Accuracy of Adolescents' Self-Reports?

Autor/inn/en	Yeager, David Scott; Krosnick, Jon A.
Titel	Does Mentioning "Some People" and "Other People" in a Survey Question Increase the Accuracy of Adolescents' Self-Reports?
Quelle	In: Developmental Psychology, 47 (2011) 6, S.1674-1679 (6 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0012-1649
DOI	10.1037/a0025440
Schlagwörter	Adolescents; Accuracy; Questionnaires; Measurement Techniques; Questioning Techniques; Social Desirability; Meta Analysis; Validity; Developmental Psychology; High School Students; Grade 9; Grade 10; Attitudes; Behavior; Beliefs; California; New York + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Fragebogen; Messtechnik; Befragungstechnik; Fragetechnik; Soziales Bedürfnis; Meta-analysis; Metaanalyse; Gültigkeit; Entwicklungspsychologie; High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; School year 09; 9. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 09; Attitude; Einstellung; Verhalten; Belief; Glaube; Kalifornien
Abstract	A great deal of developmental research has relied on self-reports solicited using the "some/other" question format (""Some students" think that...but "other students" think that..."). This article reports tests of the assumptions underlying its use: that it conveys to adolescents that socially undesirable attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors are not uncommon and legitimizes reporting them, yielding more valid self-reports than would be obtained by "direct" questions, which do not mention what other people think or do. A meta-analysis of 11 experiments embedded in four surveys of diverse samples of adolescents did not support the assumption that the some/other form increases validity. Although the some/other form led adolescents to think that undesirable attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors were more common and resulted in more reports of those attitudes and behaviors, answers to some/other questions were lower in criterion validity than were answers to direct questions. Because some/other questions take longer to ask and answer and require greater cognitive effort from participants (because they involve more words), and because they decrease measurement accuracy, the some/other question format seems best avoided. (Contains 2 footnotes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10