Social desirability in survey research: Can the list experiment provide the truth?

The phenomenon of social desirability response bias in survey research has been discussed in social psychology and social science for many years. Distortions often occur when a question or a topic of interest is ‘sensitive’ (Lee, 1993), meaning that it has a potentially embarrassing, threatening or stigmatizing character (Dalton, Wimbush, & Daily, 1994). In order to avoid socially desirable responses in self-reports, indirect survey methods were applied. These techniques should guarantee the respondents’ anonymity and thus receive more valid self-reports (Tourangeau & Yan, 2007). One of the methods that is supposed to achieve this goal is the list experiment. In general, the list experiment is able to create an estimate of the proportion of people who agree to a sensitive item. In order to determine the social desirability bias, the estimation of the list experiment is then compared to direct self-report questions. If there is a social desirability bias, the estimate of the list experiment should be higher than the direct self-report question. However, the literature does not provide a consistent picture of the functionality of the list experiment. Furthermore, a few published studies show complications with data collection and the results of the list experiment (Biemer et al., 2005). The reasons for these inconsistencies are often not apparent. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation was to make proper propositions about its validity, consistency, and to find specific factors that determine its ineffectiveness. The dissertation consists of two manuscripts that both evaluate the validity of the list experiment. Manuscript #1 was able to prove the inconsistency of the list experiment in the field of prejudice research on the basis of three different studies including two different survey modes and a panel dataset. In Study 1 (N=229, representative), the list experiment provided results in the expected direction and produced a higher estimate than the direct self-report question. Study 2, (modified repetition, N=445, representative), did not show a significant difference within the two conditions of the list experiment, and the direct self-report item yielded a higher approval rate than the list experiment. In order to test the validity and to find factors that explain the failure of the list experiment, Study 3 (N=1,569, non-representative) compared three different list experiments to each other. The three list experiments provided inconsistent results once again. Furthermore, it could be found a factor that explain the inconsistent results. The essential question was whether the increase on mean level occurs simply because of the higher number of items in the test condition. Hence, four nonsensitive items were compared to five nonsensitive items. The analysis revealed a significant mean difference between the condition with four and the condition with five nonsensitive items. This result implies enormous consequences for the validity of the list experiment itself because the increase of the mean in the test condition depends not only on the content of the particular items but also on the number of items. An additional test-retest panel analysis revealed that respondents give a more stable answer over time when the baseline condition includes only four nonsensitive items. Manuscript #2 was able to find various factors that can partly explain the inconsistent results of the list experiment. Study 1 used cognitive interviews (N=7) to demonstrate that the list experiment was predominantly understood by the respondents, and that the sensitive item was only partially perceived as such. In Study 2 (experimental online study, N=1,878) it was tested whether the sensitive item influenced the agreement to the nonsensitive items (item difficulty). It was found that the approval rate to the nonsensitive items increases when a sensitive item is included. For the list experiment, this result means that the mean level in the test condition increases due to a shift in item difficulty and not due to the content of the sensitive item, as the list experiment presupposes. In Study 3 (replication of Study 2, N=948) the hypotheses were tested again in a slightly varied design. Here, the first hypothesis was confirmed with exclusively nonsensitive items. Study 3 could corroborate the hypothesis that the procedure to indicate the number of yes answers is distorted in general. This finding implies that within the list experiment the indication of the number of items is biased in the baseline and also in the test condition. In sum the results of the two Manuscripts indicate that list experiment is unable to obtain valid and consistent results. The results of this dissertation suggest that in the process of answering a list experiment factors arise that cause distortions and affect the overall functioning of the list experiment. In total, three moderating factors were found that occurred independently of one another or together

Energy from unlikely sources : MU Power Plant's road to sustainability

The University of Missouri Power Plant has been the source of steam and electricity for the University of Missouri campus for over 85 years. Established in 1923, the plant began with only four coal burning boilers and two steam turbines. The plant now has six boilers, four steam turbine generators, two gas turbine generators, and five deep wells. The wells supply the water for the steam generators. Changes in the plant's facilities, equipment, and processes can be attributed to advancements in technology but also to a greater emphasis on environmental protection

The Effectiveness of The Internet for MBA Course Delivery: The Instructor\u27s Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to assess the relative effectiveness of delivering learning on the Internet. The method was to interview nine college professors who have taught both on line and in the traditional classroom. Professors were asked to compare the Internet with the traditional classroom as to learning delivery effectiveness and were also asked questions about conducting discussions and grading on the Internet and about the consequences of both the convenience inherent in and the necessary structure that accompanies on-line teaching. Among the results according to this sample of professors: teaching on the web has more weaknesses than strengths, the web was inferior when interaction and when one-on-one assistance were important for learning, it was superior when learning from the written word was important, the structure necessary for web delivery prevents flexibility, and the convenience reinforced impulses to avoid classroom intensity

Girls Are Dyslexic, Too! An Autoethnography about Growing up as a Girl with a Learning Difference

I was diagnosed with Dyslexia when I was seven years old and since then have faced a multitude of barriers and overwhelming feelings of being silenced or misunderstood because of the learning difference I was labeled with. While researching the topic of dyslexia for assignments I\u27ve had in my graduate classes, I found that girls are under-represented in disability research from education and psychology fields. Studies about dyslexia are often conducted with boy participants only or samples of more boys than girls, but findings from such research are often generalized unproblematically to apply to girls as well as boys. Using autoethnographic methods to recall, reflect on, and analyse my experiences with dyslexia past and present, my thesis explored the issue of marginalizing girls in research about dyslexia and propose new approaches grounded in health communication and feminist ethics of care that are attentive to and privilege girls\u27 lived experiences as students with dyslexia

O ciągłości celów wychowawczych i edukacyjnych – wyniki badań jakościowych przeprowadzonych na wychowawcach i nauczycielach przedmiotów w Izraelu

This research project presents different role perceptions regarding educational and academic aims, among high school instruction personnel. Since its foundation the Israeli education system has defined its role as a socialization agent as well as an academic institution. As national and international achievement tests became more widespread, the focus on academic aspect increased and the influence of academic excellence on school grading can be seen as more influential in comparison to educational achievements. Semi-structured interviews of 14 high school teachers – homeroom educators and subject teachers – were conducted. Results show that homeroom educators put more emphasis on educational aims while subject teachers put more emphasis on academic achievements. Their definition of success was a mixture of both objectives. Homeroom educators tend to apply educational inclusive practices while subject teachers tend to apply instructional ones. International research emphasizes the importance of educational aims and inclusive practices in promoting academic achievements for all (OECD, 2010). The emphasis on evaluation and assessment of academic achievements may results in exclusive practices. These results suggest that adding educational achievements to schools' evaluation scales can encourage all instruction personnel to promote educational aims and inclusive practices as well as academic ones, thus contributing to schools' performance in evaluation tests.4243545125Studia Edukacyjn

The workings of multiple principles in student-teacher interactions:Orientations to both mundane interaction and pedagogical context

In classroom interaction, participants are not only oriented to interactional principles for mundane talk, but also to pedagogical principles. In this paper, the interplay between these principles is revealed by means of a conversation analytic study into student-initiated student-teacher interactions during desk work in Dutch secondary schools. It is investigated from a participants’ perspective how teachers depart from the mundane interactional constraints imposed by students’ requests for assistance. The analysis shows that there are several ways teachers depart from these constraints and that teacher and students do not necessarily show an orientation to this departure as being problematic. Rather, the departure can be related to considerations concerning the pedagogical nature of these interactions. By studying the interactional departures from mundane principles, more insight is provided in the organization of classroom interactions that are started by students’ requests for assistance