Measurement error in rating scales
Scale direction, that is, whether a rating scale runs from the highest/most positive point to the lowest/most negative point or vice versa, has shown to influence how respondents answer survey questions. I am especially interested in the underlying cognitive mechanisms that lead to response order effects. Findings from this research show strong response effects caused by the direction of rating scales – responses are shifted toward the beginning of the scale for attitudinal questions regardless of the content of the item (Yan & Keusch, 2015; Liu & Keusch, 2017). A number of experiments, conducted together with Ting Yan (Westat), help us to identify the influence of scale direction in Web vs. mobile Web surveys (Keusch & Yan, 2016), for different types of rating scales (Yan, Keusch, & He, 2018), and when respondents show satisficing behavior when responding to the survey (Keusch & Yan, 2018).
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