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New insights on respondents' recall ability and memory effects when repeatedly measuring political efficacy
[journal article]
Abstract Many study designs in social science research rely on repeated measurements implying that the same respondents are asked the same (or nearly the same) questions at least twice. An assumption made by such study designs is that respondents second answer does not depend on their first answer. However, ... view more
Many study designs in social science research rely on repeated measurements implying that the same respondents are asked the same (or nearly the same) questions at least twice. An assumption made by such study designs is that respondents second answer does not depend on their first answer. However, if respondents recall their initial answer and base their second answer on it memory effects may affect the survey outcome. In this study, I investigate respondents' recall ability and memory effects within the same survey and randomly assign respondents to a device type (PC or smartphone) and a response format (response scale or text field) for reporting their previous answer. While the results reveal no differences regarding device types, they reveal differences regarding response formats. Respondents’ recall ability is higher when they are provided with the response scale again than when they are only provided with a text field (without displaying the response scale again). The same finding applies to the size of estimated memory effects. This study provides evidence that the size of memory effects may have been overestimated in previous studies.... view less
Keywords
microcensus; reminiscence; memory; survey; measurement
Classification
Methods and Techniques of Data Collection and Data Analysis, Statistical Methods, Computer Methods
Research Design
Free Keywords
memory effects; mixed-device survey; political efficacy; recall ability; repeated measurement; response format
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 2549-2566
Journal
Quality & Quantity, 56 (2022) 4
Issue topic
Causation, inferences, and solution types in configurational comparative methods
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-021-01219-2
ISSN
1573-7845
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed