ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown that question characteristics, such as the shape of rating scales, can affect how respondents interpret and respond to questions. For example, earlier studies reported different response distributions for questions employing rating scales in the form of a ladder and in the form of a pyramid. The current experiment, implemented in a probability-based online panel (N = 4,377), re-visits and extends this research by examining how the two graphical layouts (ladder vs. pyramid) affect response behavior and data quality of a question on subjective social stratification. In line with the earlier results, we found that respondents rated their social status lower in the pyramid than in the ladder condition. No differences between the two layouts were found regarding response effort, however, the ladder layout was associated with higher criterion validity. Therefore, we recommend employing the ladder layout when measuring subjective social stratification.

摘要

先前的研究表明，问题特征（例如等级量表的形状）可能会影响受访者对问题的解释和回答方式。例如，较早的研究报道了采用梯形和金字塔形的评定量表对问题的不同回答分布。当前的实验是在基于概率的在线小组中进行的（N = 4,377），通过检查两种图形布局（梯形与金字塔形）如何影响主观社交问题的回答行为和数据质量来重新访问并扩展此研究分层。与早期的结果一致，我们发现受访者在金字塔中的社会地位比在阶梯条件下低。两种布局之间在响应努力方面均未发现差异，但是，阶梯布局与较高的标准有效性相关。因此，我们建议在测量主观社会分层时采用阶梯式布局。