Did You Not Understand The Question Or Not? An Investigation Of Negatively Worded Questions In Survey Research

Johnson, Jill M.; Bristow, Dennis N.; Schneider, Kenneth C.

doi:10.19030/jabr.v20i1.2197

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…While negatively worded questions are commonly included to control for respondent bias (Nunnally, Bernstein, & Berge, 1967), Roszkowski and Soven (2010) recommend against including negative questions in a positively stated questionnaire, arguing that the negative questions lead to ambiguity of results instead of controlling for bias. Given that other negatively worded questions have loaded adequately onto their respective construct (see Table 3), we argue that the negatively worded questions in the POS scale may have confused the respondents (Johnson, Bristow, & Schneider, 2010) and are not the result of respondent bias.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Management, bullying and the work outcomes of Australian paramilitary

Brunetto

Xerri

Shacklock

et al. 2016

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology

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This study compared the impact of perceived organisational support from management upon bullying of soldiers and police officers and their work outcomes (wellbeing, affective commitment and turnover intentions). Data from self-report surveys from 99 army personnel and 193 police officers were analysed using SEM. The results indicate that significant paths between most variables and perceived organisational support explained 6% of bullying (comprising intimidation and personal attacks). Together, (a) perceived organisational support and bullying explained almost a third (28%) of psychological wellbeing, (b) perceived organisational support, bullying and psychological wellbeing explained over two-thirds (68%) of affective commitment, and (c) bullying and affective commitment explained over half (53%) of turnover intentions. Also, bullying partially mediated the relationship between perceived organisational support and affective commitment. There were no significant differences between the two cohorts, except for perceived organisational support from management. Implications include that soldiers and police officers are likely to experience better workplace performance if management support is improved. Both soldiers and police undertake emotionally difficult

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Management, bullying and the work outcomes of Australian paramilitary

Brunetto

Xerri

Shacklock

et al. 2016

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology

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“…Comprehension problems might be specifically prevalent in related question RRT designs. These designs implement positively and negatively worded statements, and require some participants to use a double negative as their response, which has been shown to be potentially confusing (e.g., Johnson, Bristow, & Schneider, 2011). The instructions of the SLD, however, have been modified in a way that generally excludes the possibility of respondents having to solve a double negative: All carriers of the attribute in question are required to respond to the positively worded Statement A.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the validity of two indirect questioning techniques: A Stochastic Lie Detector versus the Crosswise Model

Hoffmann

Musch

2015

Behav Res

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Estimates of the prevalence of sensitive attributes obtained through direct questions are prone to being distorted by untruthful responding. Indirect questioning procedures such as the Randomized Response Technique (RRT) aim to control for the influence of social desirability bias. However, even on RRT surveys, some participants may disobey the instructions in an attempt to conceal their true status. In the present study, we experimentally compared the validity of two competing indirect questioning techniques that presumably offer a solution to the problem of nonadherent respondents: the Stochastic Lie Detector and the Crosswise Model. For two sensitive attributes, both techniques met the Bmore is better^criterion. Their application resulted in higher, and thus presumably more valid, prevalence estimates than a direct question. Only the Crosswise Model, however, adequately estimated the known prevalence of a nonsensitive control attribute.

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“…Negatively worded statements, especially, double negatives, also require additional cognitive resources to process and often cause confusion. In Johnson, Bristow, and Schneider's () study, 253 college students in the United States completed a seven‐item survey using a six‐point Likert scale. Although a unidimensional factor structure emerged regardless of positive or negative wording, internal consistency did decrease with negatively worded items.…”

Section: Research Findings On the Use Of Negatively Worded Itemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence-Based Survey Design: The Use of Negatively Worded Items in Surveys

Chyung

Barkin²,

Shamsy

2018

Perf. Improv.

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A close examination of the literature on including positively and negatively worded items in structured survey questionnaires revealed that contrary to the traditional wisdom, it is better not to use a mix of positively and negatively worded items because doing so can create threats to validity and reliability of the survey instrument. If mixing is done, it is recommended to use strategies derived from research to improve the quality of data and the instrument's validity and reliability.

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Did You Not Understand The Question Or Not? An Investigation Of Negatively Worded Questions In Survey Research

Abstract: This study compared

Cited by 27 publications

References 12 publications

Management, bullying and the work outcomes of Australian paramilitary

Management, bullying and the work outcomes of Australian paramilitary

Assessing the validity of two indirect questioning techniques: A Stochastic Lie Detector versus the Crosswise Model

Evidence-Based Survey Design: The Use of Negatively Worded Items in Surveys

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