Thinking Critically About Survey Research
Reported behavior versus actual behavior: The value of collected data completely depends upon how truthful respondents are in their answers on questionnaires . In general, survey researchers accept respondents’ answers as true unless there is otherwise reason for suspicion . Because respondents are aware that their responses are being recorded and analyzed, sometimes they feel pressure to respond to questions in a certain way . This is called social desirability, where participants answer questions according to their beliefs of what attitudes are socially the most acceptable to uphold . Survey researchers avoid reactive measurement by examining the accuracy of verbal reports, and directly observing respondents’ behavior in comparison with their verbal reports to determine what behaviors they really engage in or what attitudes they really uphold .
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“The greatest happiness for the thinking person is to have explored the explorable and to venerate in equanimity that which cannot be explored.”
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