Research Synthesis

Abstract

Herbert Simon’s (1956) concept of satisficing provides an intuitive explanation for the reasons why respondents to surveys sometimes adopt response strategies that can lead to a reduction in data quality. As such, the concept rapidly gained popularity among researchers after it was first introduced to the field of survey methodology by Krosnick and Alwin (1987), and it has become a widely cited buzzword linked to different forms of response error. In this article, we present the findings of a systematic review involving a content analysis of journal articles published in English-language journals between 1987 and 2015 that have drawn on the satisficing concept to evaluate survey data quality. Based on extensive searches of online databases, and an initial screening exercise to apply the study’s inclusion criteria, 141 relevant articles were identified. Guided by the theory of survey satisficing described by Krosnick (1991), the methodological features of the shortlisted articles were coded, including the indicators of satisficing analyzed, the main predictors of satisficing, and the presence of main or interaction effects on the prevalence of satisficing involving indicators of task difficulty, respondent ability, and respondent motivation. Our analysis sheds light on potential differences in the extent to which satisficing theory holds for different types of response error, and highlights a number of avenues for future research.

The Devil Is in the Details: A Randomized Experiment Assessing the Effect of Providing Examples in a Survey Question across Countries

“…7 Third, we use educational level as a proxy for respondent ability, mindful that this represents an imperfect indicator of this construct. Future research would benefit from including indicators of task difficulty and respondent motivation, given their potential additive or multiplicative effect (Roberts et al 2019). Finally, because panelists were recruited off the back of the ESS, the response rate was lower than that of the ESS, increasing the risk of nonresponse bias.…”

“…H3 Providing examples will have heterogeneous effects across educa-tional levels and countries. Based on the theory of satisficing (Krosnick 1991;Roberts et al 2019), we would expect examples to have stronger effects among respondents with lower education levels (proxy for cognitive ability; see Roberts et al 2019). Considering the existence of large differences in Internet penetration and social media use among Estonia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom at the time of data collection, we anticipated differences in the effect of the examples across these countries.…”

Emotional Experiences of Cybersecurity Breach Victims

“…This was done because nondifferentiation is one of the strongest indicators for lack of validity in responses. 13 In the remaining sample, there were 49.7% females, the mean age was 35.47 years and ranged from 18 to 65 years old, 79% were employed, 8% were studying, 7% were unemployed, 5% were unable to work, and 1% were retired.…”

Efectos de respuesta en encuestas administradas: diferencias entre la aplicación visual y la oral

“…Uno de los hallazgos más nombrados (entre otros, Bogner y Landrock, 2016; Roberts et al, 2019) dentro de esta línea de investigación es la tendencia a una mayor elección de las últimas opciones de respuesta cuando el entrevistado recibe la información de forma oral, por ejemplo, a través del teléfono (encuesta telefónica). Por su parte, cuando el entrevistado puede ver o leer todas las opciones de la pregunta, cuando dispone de información visual, aumenta la elección de las primeras opciones de respuesta (Krosnick y Alwin, 1987).…”

“…Existe un elevado nivel de acuerdo sobre estos efectos, si bien una visión panorámica proporciona resultados contrapuestos, lo que justifica que numerosos expertos recomienden una mayor investigación (entre otros, Leeuw et al, 2019;Dillman et al, 2014;Roberts et al, 2019). Este trabajo se enmarca en esta línea teórica y trata de aportar información sobre, por un lado, la investigación en lengua diferente a la inglesa y, por otro, la localización de estos problemas en encuestas presenciales que emplean ayudas visuales (tarjetas de respuesta).…”