Factorial survey experiments are increasingly used in the social sciences to investigate behavioral intentions. The measurement of self-reported behavioral intentions with factorial survey experiments frequently assumes that the determinants of intended behavior affect actual behavior in a similar way. We critically investigate this fundamental assumption using the misdirected email technique. Student participants of a survey were randomly assigned to a field experiment or a survey experiment. The email informs the recipient about the reception of a scholarship with varying stakes (full-time vs. book) and recipient’s names (German vs. Arabic). In the survey experiment, respondents saw an image of the same email. This validation design ensured a high level of correspondence between units, settings, and treatments across both studies. Results reveal that while the frequencies of self-reported intentions and actual behavior deviate, treatments show similar relative effects. Hence, although further research on this topic is needed, this study suggests that determinants of behavior might be inferred from behavioral intentions measured with survey experiments.

中文翻译：

---

从关于人类行为的析因调查中我们可以学到什么？

在社会科学中越来越多地使用析因调查实验来调查行为意图。用析因调查实验对自我报告的行为意图进行的测量经常假设预期行为的决定因素以类似的方式影响实际行为。我们使用误导电子邮件技术来认真研究这个基本假设。调查的学生参与者被随机分配到现场实验或调查实验中。电子邮件会通知接收者有关奖学金获得情况的信息（不同的押注）（全日制与书籍）和接收者的姓名（德语与阿拉伯语）。在调查实验中，受访者看到的是同一封电子邮件的图像。这种验证设计确保了两项研究中单位，设置和治疗之间的高度对应。结果显示，尽管自我报告的意图和实际行为的频率有所不同，但治疗也显示出相似的相对效果。因此，尽管需要对此主题进行进一步的研究，但这项研究表明，行为的决定因素可能是通过调查实验测得的行为意图来推断的。