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An ounce of prevention: using conversational interviewing and avoiding agreement response scales to prevent acquiescence

Author

Listed:
  • Rachel E. Davis

    (University of South Carolina)

  • Frederick G. Conrad

    (University of Michigan)

  • Shaohua Dong

    (University of Michigan)

  • Anna Mesa

    (University of South Carolina)

  • Sunghee Lee

    (University of Michigan)

  • Timothy P. Johnson

    (University of Illinois at Chicago)

Abstract

Acquiescent response style (ARS), the tendency for survey respondents to agree with survey items, is of particular concern for increasing measurement error in surveys with populations who are more likely to acquiesce, such as Latino respondents in the U.S. In order to develop methods for reducing ARS, this study addressed two questions: (1) Does administering a questionnaire using conversational interviewing (CI) yield less ARS than standardized interviewing (SI)? (2) Do bipolar disagree/agree (DA) response scales lead to higher ARS than unipolar response scales that do not assess agreement (non-AG)? A total of 891 Latino telephone survey respondents were screened for ARS and randomly assigned to four experimental groups determined by crossing interviewing technique (CI or SI) and response format (non-AG or DA): (1) SI/non-AG (n = 301); (2) SI/DA (n = 295); (3) CI/non-AG (n = 149); and (4) CI/DA (n = 146). CI yielded lower ARS than SI (p

Suggested Citation

  • Rachel E. Davis & Frederick G. Conrad & Shaohua Dong & Anna Mesa & Sunghee Lee & Timothy P. Johnson, 2024. "An ounce of prevention: using conversational interviewing and avoiding agreement response scales to prevent acquiescence," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 471-495, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:58:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s11135-023-01650-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11135-023-01650-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Brady T. West & Frederick G. Conrad & Frauke Kreuter & Felicitas Mittereder, 2018. "Can conversational interviewing improve survey response quality without increasing interviewer effects?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 181(1), pages 181-203, January.
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    4. Mingnan Liu & Frederick G. Conrad & Sunghee Lee, 2017. "Comparing acquiescent and extreme response styles in face-to-face and web surveys," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 941-958, March.
    5. Nair, V. & Strecher, V. & Fagerlin, A. & Ubel, P. & Resnicow, K. & Murphy, S. & Little, R. & Chakraborty, B. & Zhang, A., 2008. "Screening experiments and the use of fractional factorial designs in behavioral intervention research," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(8), pages 1354-1359.
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