4 ms·

The article is an interesting perspective on the factor of choices given in "opinion" polls. Forcing a choice one way or another has a really interesting effect

The article is an interesting perspective on the factor of choices given in "opinion" polls. Forcing a choice one way or another has a really interesting effect (as in including only agree/disagree, and no "I don't know" option). It can force individuals to take a stance on a parent topic, even if that parent topic is implicit (for example "do you trust the government" for conspiracy theories). It reminds me a little of forced choice assesments [0], commonly used for interview screening or employee assesment. Its interesting, but kind of inevitable, that people will often default to the choice which is "best" rather than most accurate/correct. Forcing a choice can have all sorts of effects, and it depends on the context if that effect is good or not. [0] https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-communication-research-methods/i12999.xml https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-encyclopedia-...

data_ders 6y ago
Also important is the order and method in which the choices are presented. Are respondents told at every question that they have "not sure" as an option? Is it the first option presented?
- harry8 6y ago
  Order and medhod. Such an easy game to play, I'm sure there are much more subtle and effective ways of doing that the example I'm about to dash off here. We will only report the stats for the answers of question 3. Questionaire A. 1. Do you think Osama Bin Laden is evil? 2. Do you support Bin Laden being brought to justice for his actions? 3. Do you trust the government? --------------------------------------------------------- Questionaire B. 1. Did you believe the CDC when they said masks were useless against covid? 2. Do you believe the current consensus that they are useful against covid? 3. Do you trust the government?
  - gruez 6y ago
    AFAIK this is why survey firms usually publish their methodology (ie. script used to ask the respondents).

data_ders 6y ago

Also important is the order and method in which the choices are presented. Are respondents told at every question that they have "not sure" as an option? Is it the first option presented?

harry8 6y ago
Order and medhod. Such an easy game to play, I'm sure there are much more subtle and effective ways of doing that the example I'm about to dash off here. We will only report the stats for the answers of question 3. Questionaire A. 1. Do you think Osama Bin Laden is evil? 2. Do you support Bin Laden being brought to justice for his actions? 3. Do you trust the government? --------------------------------------------------------- Questionaire B. 1. Did you believe the CDC when they said masks were useless against covid? 2. Do you believe the current consensus that they are useful against covid? 3. Do you trust the government?
- gruez 6y ago
  AFAIK this is why survey firms usually publish their methodology (ie. script used to ask the respondents).