Effects of Presenting One Versus Two Sides of an Issue in Survey Questions

Abstract

Data from a split-ballot experiment show that offering respondents an alter- native position on an issue not only affects the marginals, it also influences whether respondents will give an opinion at all. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that these form effects can occur despite the use of filter questions which theoretically screen out those who tend to be most susceptible to such effects: the less educated or uninformed. The analysis does provide evidence, however, that less educated respondents are indeed more affected by differences in question format and that they are much more likely to acquiesce to one-sided agree/disagree forms. In discussing the results the authors develop an information-processing model of question form effects and a meth- odological strategy to generate further research on a much-needed theory of the survey instrument. George F. Bishop is a Senior Research Associate, Robert W. Oldendick is Assistant Director, and Alfred J. Tuchfarber is Director of the Behavioral Sciences Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati's Institute for Policy Research. The research reported here was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (SOC78-07407). The authors want to thank Howard Schuman and Stanley Presser for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.