The Interdependence of Determinants for the Strength and Direction of Social Desirability Bias in Racial Attitude Surveys

Empirical evidence suggests that the respondents� approval motive, their desirability beliefs and the privacy of the response situation affects respondents� susceptibility to social desirability bias. Previous research has analyzed the explanatory power of these factors separately and has not taken their possible interdependence as determinants for social desirability bias into account. This article tests the prediction from rational-choice theory that a strong approval motive, clear differences in the perceived desirability of response options and a lack of privacy are all necessary but not sufficient conditions for social desirability bias. According to the empirical results from our first study a three-way interaction between the analyzed factors predicts respondents� racial attitude reports. However, since attitude answers and desirability beliefs were collected in the same interview, the observed associations may be an artifact due to subjects� sensitization for social desirability concerns. This possibility is tested in a second study, where only racial attitude answers were collected under conditions of varying response privacy. Aggregated response differences between the utilized attitude items and respondents� social group affiliation were matched with equivalent differences in the desirability beliefs found in the first study. The results from the main study were replicated with this independent sample of respondents.

Response Privacy and Elapsed Time Since Election Day as Determinants for Vote Overreporting

Survey respondents have consistently been found to overreport their participation in political elections. Lots of research has been done about the sociodemographic correlates of vote overreporting, but only a few studies analyzed determinants which survey researchers have under their control in order to reduce the problem. Theoretical explanations have assumed memory failure and social desirability bias to explain overreporting. Taking these explanations as a starting point, we tested firstly whether asking retrospective questions about the participation in elections which date back longer in time leads to more overreporting. The second hypothesis is that ensured response privacy eliminates the need for positive self-presentation and thus reduces overreporting. Using data from a field experiment, we found that even when already a substantial time has elapsed between the election under consideration and the survey interview, increasing this time lag still increases the probability of vote reports. This was as well the case when the data was collected interviewer- rather than self-administered. Thus, conducting the survey interview as soon as possible after the political election and using an administration mode which ensures response privacy successfully reduces vote overreporting.

Determinants and Consequences of Survey Respondents� Social Desirability Beliefs about Racial Attitudes

In this article we analyze beliefs about the social desirability of ten racial attitude items from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS). These beliefs indicate that the items, as well as respondents with regard to different sex, age and education, are differently prone to social desirability bias. Demographic response differences may thus only reflect differences in social desirability bias. We matched the desirability differences between the items and demographic groups with the racial attitude responses from the independent, nationwide sample of the ALLBUS survey in 1996. The desirability beliefs obtained from our urban, West German sample predicted the attitude answers, and this predictability was stronger for ALLBUS respondents with the same characteristics. Our results suggest that the ALLBUS data is subject to social desirability bias, that particular items are more strongly affected, and that differences in the attitude reports according to the respondents� age and education should be interpreted with caution.

The Motive for Status Maintenance and Inequality in Educational Decisions. Which of the Parents Defines the Reference Point?

Several theoretical approaches assume that the motive for status maintenance, that is the desire to avoid intergenerational status downward mobility, explains educational decisions and effects of the families’ social status hereon. Not much is known about whether this assumption is empirically valid, and it is completely an open question which of the parents’ social status provides the reference point when evaluating educational options with respect to their suitability for status maintenance. We utilize data from the Mannheim Educational Panel Study to test whether the beliefs about how likely secondary school degrees ensure the maintenance of the mothers’ and fathers’ status explain the decision between school tracks leading to these degrees in Germany. We compare the explanatory power of altogether nine measures, assuming the reference status to be determined by different models about how the families’ status is mentally represented. Results have shown that the motive for status maintenance exerts in all versions significant effects on educational decisions. However, it proved to be strongest when the fathers’ status was assumed to define success in avoiding intergenerational status demotion. After controlling for the effect of this measure, direct effects of the families’ educational and occupational status were substantially reduced, but not completely explained.

Strength, Sources, and Temporal Development of Primary Effects of Families´ Social Status on Secondary School Choice

We analyze the relative importance of primary and secondary effects of both parents’ educational and occupational status on whether an upper or a less ambitious secondary school track is chosen after primary school in Germany. We compare standardized test scores, parents’ achievement beliefs, and teachers’ marks as conceptually different indicators for children’s academic competencies with respect to how completely they capture the strength and temporal development of primary effects. We found all measures, but in particular the teachers’ evaluations, to be strongly affected by the children’s social origin. Furthermore, teachers’ marks had the strongest effect on educational decisions, explained status differences in this respect to the largest extent, and proved to be the best single indicator for primary effects. However, each of the other measures and the children’s competency development in the past exert significant additional effects on the educational decision. The failure to take the full set of competency measures into account leads to a substantial underestimation of primary effects. Taking the cumulative effect of all competency indicators into account, we found 50 percent of the initially significant net-effects of the mothers’ education and 70 percent of the effects of their social class to be attributable to primary effects.

Attitudes Toward Surveys, Attitude Accessibility and the Effect on Respondents� Susceptibility to Nonresponse

This paper analyzes whether respondents� attitudes toward surveys explains their susceptibility to item nonresponse. In contrast to previous studies, the decision to refuse to provide income information, not to answer other questions and the probability of �don�t know� responses is tested separately. Furthermore, the interviewers� overall judgments of response willingness was included as well. Respondents with a positive and cognitively accessible attitude toward surveys were expected to adopt a cooperative orientation and were thus deemed more likely to answer difficult as well as sensitive questions. Attitudes were measured with a 16-item instrument and the response latencies were used as an indicator for attitude accessibility. We found that respondents with more favorable evaluations of surveys had lower values on all kinds of nonresponse indicators. Except for the strong effect on the prevalence of don�t knows, survey attitudes were increasingly more predictive for all other aspects of nonresponse when these attitude answers were faster and thus cognitively more accessible. This accessibility, and thus how relevant survey attitudes are for nonresponse, was found to increase with the subjects� exposure to surveys in the past.

Political Involvement and Memory Failure as Interdependent Determinants of Vote Overreporting

Survey respondents have been found to systematically overreport their participation in political elections. Although the sociodemographic correlates of this response bias are well known, only a few studies have analyzed the determinants predicted by two prominent theoretical explanations for vote overreporting: memory failure and social desirability bias. Both explanations have received empirical support in studies in which the probability of vote overreporting was found to increase (a) with the time between the election and the survey interview and (b) when respondents were more politically involved. In the present paper, we argue that the effect of each of these determinants is not simply additive, but depends on the value of the respective other factor. This interaction effect has been found with data from the American National Election Studies: The probability of vote overreporting increases significantly stronger with the respondents’ political involvement when more time has elapsed since the election day.

Attitudes toward surveys, attitude accessibility and the effect on respondents' susceptibility to nonresponse

This paper analyzes whether respondents' attitudes toward surveys explains their susceptibility to item nonresponse. In contrast to previous studies, the decision to refuse to provide income information, not to answer other questions and the probability of "don't know" responses is tested separately. Furthermore, the interviewers' overall judgments of response willingness was included as well. Respondents with a positive and cognitively accessible attitude toward surveys were expected to adopt a cooperative orientation and were thus deemed more likely to answer difficult as well as sensitive questions. Attitudes were measured with a 16-item instrument and the response latencies were used as an indicator for attitude accessibility. We found that respondents with more favorable evaluations of surveys had lower values on all kinds of nonresponse indicators. Except for the strong effect on the prevalence of don't knows, survey attitudes were increasingly more predictive for all other aspects of nonresponse when these attitude answers were faster and thus cognitively more accessible. This accessibility, and thus how relevant survey attitudes are for nonresponse, was found to increase with the subjects' exposure to surveys in the past

Strength, sources, and temporal development of primary effects of families' social status on secondary school choice

We analyze the relative importance of primary and secondary effects of both parents’ educational and occupational status on whether an upper or a less ambitious secondary school track is chosen after primary school in Germany. We compare standardized test scores, parents’ achievement beliefs, and teachers’ marks as conceptually different indicators for children’s academic competencies with respect to how completely they capture the strength and temporal development of primary effects. We found all measures, but in particular the teachers’ evaluations, to be strongly affected by the children’s social origin. Furthermore, teachers’ marks had the strongest effect on educational decisions, explained status differences in this respect to the largest extent, and proved to be the best single indicator for primary effects. However, each of the other measures and the children’s competency development in the past exert significant additional effects on the educational decision. The failure to take the full set of competency measures into account leads to a substantial underestimation of primary effects. Taking the cumulative effect of all competency indicators into account, we found 50 percent of the initially significant net-effects of the mothers’ education and 70 percent of the effects of their social class to be attributable to primary effects

Determinanten und Konsequenzen von Nonresponse in egozentrierten Netzwerkstudien

It is the main aim of egocentric network studies to include the embedding of actors into certain reference groups and to analyze the resulting effects. The realization of this aim makes it necessary to cover as completely as possible the characteristics of the relevant reference persons (alters) within the social context of the target persons (ego), which are important for these influences. The basis for this are either proxy responses given by ego about the alters’ characteristics or self-reports obtained from the reference persons themselves. To what extent one can measure the complete reference group’s characteristics depends in the first approach on the ability and willingness of ego to answer proxy questions about the alters. In contrast, the use of the reference persons’ self-reported characteristics require ego’s willingness to provide contact information as well as alters’ willingness to take part in the interview. The present article examines, by means of a sample of elementary-school parents, the fators which determine the success of both types of operationalizations of reference-group influences. Analyzed factors are the egos’ and alters’ sociodemographic characteristics, the strength of the relationship between both groups, as well as indicators for the general willingness to answer questions. According to our results, neither the failure to obtain proxy information from ego nor the impossibility to acquire self reports of the alters are the result of a random process. In fact, the drop-out probability varies significantly according to the target and reference persons’ characteristics, and differs according to the strength of their ties as well as to the respondents’ overall disposition toward nonresponse. The first consequence is that the for the analysis of reference group effects available size of the social networks differs according to the characteristics of ego. Secondly, the composition of the available sample of network persons has been found to be subject to a systematic selectivity in comparison to the population of alters