Detecting respondents who fake and confuse information about question areas on surveys

Abstract

OPINION-ATTITUDE AND MARKET SURVEY RESEARCHERS OFTEN INCLUDE IN QUESTIONNAIRES A NONEXISTENT ITEM IN A LIST OF ITEMS ON WHICH ATTITUDES AND INFORMATION LEVELS ARE SOUGHT. THESE RESEARCHERS ASSUME THAT RESPONSE TO THE PHONY ITEM IS EVIDENCE OF INVALID RESPONSES TO OTHER ITEMS. VERBAL BEHAVIOR OF RESPONDENTS CLAIMING AWARENESS OF SUCH A PHONY ITEM IS COMPARATIVELY ANALYZED IN EVALUATION OF THIS PRACTICAL TECHNIQUE. DATA ARE INTERVIEWS WITH 625 SAMPLE SURVEY RESPONDENTS. RESPONDENTS ASSERTING AWARENESS OF THE FICTITIOUS ITEM ARE MORE LIKELY (1) TO PROFESS AWARENESS OF GENUINE ITEMS, AND (2) TO EXPRESS FAVORABLE ATTITUDES TOWARD ITEMS. THE TECHNIQUE PERMITS A ROUGH BUT WORKABLE ESTIMATION OF RESPONSE VALIDITY AND DOES NOT GREATLY BIAS THE SAMPLE'S REPRESENTATIVENESS IF INVALID RESPONSES ARE DROPPED. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)