Transcript Psychology of Emotions

Survey Methods 3
Class 21
Agree/Disagree Format
Agree
1. I wish my family would be more courteous.
2. I am tired of having to watch what I say.
3. Venting pent up feelings is selfish.
4. My family doesn't need any mediation.
Problems with this format?
Disagree
Problems With Agree/Disagree Format

Loose info when squeezing range of attitudes into a
dichotomy. Can’t correlate responses w’ each other.

Works best for extreme attitudes. Can’t distinguish
moderate or ambivalent attitudess from extreme attitudes.

Confusing to indicate a negative (or positive) attitude by
responding in the affirmative (or negative).
Fowler discourages use of agree/disagree for these reasons.
What Difference Does It Make To
Include / Exclude "Don't Know" (DK) Response?
1. Does it change rate at which people say DK?
2. Does it change the rate at which substantive (non-DK)
responses are endorsed, relative to one another?
3. Does DK option change relationships between variables?
Solution: Provide DK option.
“Floaters”: A Problem and a Mystery
Floaters: People who give a response when there is not a DK (“don’t
know”) filter, but who reply “Don’t Know” when there is a DK filter.
Relations between responses changes when DK filters are used.
* Floaters weaken true correlations
* Floaters can create false correls, where none actually exist
* Floaters sometimes make no difference at all
Who are floaters? Difficult to say. For obscure questions, floaters tend to
be among the less educated.
Schwartz: Self Reports
1. How people make sense of questions:
Pragmatics of Communication
2. How people answer behavioral questions
Cognitive strategies and heuristics
3. Special case of attitude questions:
Context effects
Literal Meaning and Pragmatic Meaning
Literal Meaning:
Q. How would you articulate the chronologically proximal condition of your
limbic-related subjective state?
Q. How would you describe your current mood?
Pragmatic Meaning:
Q. How would you describe your current mood?
(Do they want to know what I'm feeling right now?)
(Do they want to know how I'd express my feelings,
e.g. in words, in song, through interpretive dance?)
Grician Maxims and the
Pragmatics of Communications
1. Relation:
Contribution must be ??? to conversation.
2. Quantity: Provide ??? information:
3. Manner:
Information should be relayed ???.
4. Quality:
Information should be ???, not ???.
Grician Maxims and the
Pragmatics of Communications
1. Relation:
Contribution must be relevant to conversation.
2. Quantity: Provide sufficient information:
not too little, not too much.
3. Manner:
Information should be relayed clearly and
succinctly, not ambiguous and not over-wordy.
4. Quality:
Information should be true, not false.
Grician Maxims Go to the Doctor
Inquiry
Maxim Invoked
Violation of
Maxim
My Car
Adherence to
Maxim
What brings you
here today?
????
My sinuses
What is the nature
of your problem?
????
I feel bad. [OR]
My sinuses,
located throughout
my skull and
producing mucus,
I think I may have a
sinus infection.
What are your
symptoms?
????
My nose is all
stuffed up.
Have you taken
meds I prescribed
????
As the Bard mused
upon the stoppage
of the River
Thames…
Sure have—every
day [a lie].
I keep forgetting—
sorry [the truth]
Grician Maxims Go to the Doctor
Inquiry
Maxim Invoked
Violation of
Maxim
My Car
Adherence to
Maxim
What brings you
here today?
Relation
My sinuses
What is the nature
of your problem?
Quantity
I feel bad. [OR]
My sinuses,
located throughout
my skull and
producing mucus,
I think I may have a
sinus infection.
What are your
symptoms?
Manner
My nose is all
stuffed up.
Have you taken
meds I prescribed
Quality
As the Bard mused
upon the stoppage
of the River
Thames…
Sure have—every
day [a lie].
I keep forgetting—
sorry [the truth]
Whoa! Way too much information!
How do I get to Kent?
Go to Smith Hall, third floor, Room 352
Tell him Social Psychology sucks
Relevance of Grician Maxims Survey Questions
1. In normal conversation, people assume others are
following these maxims.
2. In surveys, people make the same assumption:
a. All info. in surveys serves to convey main points
1) Wording
2) Cues in the format, structure, order
3. People use maxims to figure out how to answer
survey questions.
Closed-Ended Questions Help Clarify Meaning of Inquiry
“What is the most important thing for children to prepare them for life?”
_______________________________________ OPEN ENDED
“What is the most important thing for children to prepare them for life?”
A. _____ Learning math
B. _____ Language skills
C. _____ Politeness and manners
D. _____ To think for themselves
E. _____ Experimental methods
“To think for themselves”
CLOSED ENDED
Open ended endorse this:
Closed ended endorse this:
04.6%
61.5%
Note: The effect of closed-ended questions is probably a combination
of added clarity plus suggesting responses that do not
spontaneously occur to respondent.
Frequency Scales and
Question Interpretation
Q. How often do conflicts arise in your family?
"Frequent" Frame
"Infrequent" Frame
Once a day
Once a week
4-6 times a week
2-3 times a month
2-3 times a week
Once a month
Once a week
Once every 2-3 months
Once a month
Once every 6 months
Frequency Scales and
Question Interpretation
Q. How often do conflicts arise in your family?
"Frequent" Frame
Once a day
Once a week
4-6 times a week
2-3 times a month
2-3 times a week
X
"Infrequent" Frame
X
Once a month
Once a week
Once every 2-3 months
Once a month
Once every 6 months
Frequent  Common events
Infrequent  Extreme events
Framing Past Events Affects Reports of Current Events
Winkielman, Knaüper, & Schwarz, 1998
Q1: “How often do you get angry during a typical (week/year)?
Hardly Ever
1
2
3
4
5
6
Very Frequently
7 8 9
Q2: “Based on Q1, how would you answer the following (1-10 scale)?
Week
Year
Freq. of angering events:
Intensity of feelings around events
Seriousness of events
3.77
5.74
5.32
4.26
6.37
6.37
Answer to Q1 (“How often?”)
3.77
4.26
Rating Scale Format as Cue to Question Meaning
Q. How satisfied are you with the way family members respond
to your concerns?
Not at
all
Barely
at all
Slightly
Somewhat
Moderately
Very
Compl
etely
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
Q. How satisfied are you with the way family members
respond to your concerns?
Not at
all
Barely
at all
Slightly
Somewhat
Moderately
Very
Compl
etely
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Rating Scale Format as Cue to Question Meaning
Q. How satisfied are you with the way family members respond
to your concerns?
Not at
all
Barely
at all
Slightly
Somewhat
Moderately
Very
Compl
etely
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
Q. How satisfied are you with the way family members
respond to your concerns?
Not at
all
Barely
at all
Slightly
Somewhat
Moderately
Very
Compl
etely
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Note: Bipolar implies neg & pos, unipolar implies pos only
Researcher Affiliation as a Context Cue
"Hi. I'm from the Institute for Personality Research.
Why do you think family conflicts occur?"
KINDS OF ANSWERS LIKELY TO GET?
"Hi. I'm from the Institute for Social Research.
Why do you think family conflicts occur?"
KINDS OF ANSWERS LIKELY TO GET?
Researcher Affiliation as a Context Cue
"Hi. I'm from the Institute for Personality Research.
Why do you think family conflicts occur?"
* Hostile types in this family
* People lack communication skills
"Hi. I'm from the Institute for Social Research.
Why do you think family conflicts occur?"
* No time for family dinners
* Economic pressures
Inferring Meaning of Questions from
Adjacent Questions
Target Question: Do you support the newly instituted educational
contribution? [IN FACT THERE IS NO SUCH POLICY]
Preceding question
A. Do you favor the American system where students pay their own
tuition?
B. Do you favor the Scandinavian system of government
sponsored college education?
Students favored contribution more when preceded by Question A or B?
Inferring Meaning of Questions from
Adjacent Questions
Target Question: Do you support the newly instituted educational
contribution? [IN FACT THERE IS NO SUCH POLICY]
Preceding question
A. Do you favor the American system where students pay their own
tuition?
Implies that contribution will come from students.
B. Do you favor the Scandinavian system of government
sponsored college education?
Implies that contribution will come from government.
Students favored contribution more when preceded by
Question B than by Question A.
Psychological Influences on
Question Response
How often do people in your family have conflicts?
I. Cognitive tasks:
1. Recall of information
2. Computation of judgment
3. Format judgment in terms of choices
II. Motivational/emotional issues
1. Self presentation
2. Social desirability
Survey Format Affects Interpretation of Responses

People who review survey results will draw formatbased inferences about the meaning of responses.

Example: MD estimates of illness severity shaped by
patient reports, which are shaped by survey response
options.
Effects of Outcome (e.g., Symptom) Clarity and
Frequency on Outcome Reporting
12
Severity
10
8
High Freq. Scale
Low Freq. Scale
6
4
2
0
Vaguely Defined
Symptoms
Clearly Defined
Symptoms
Vague Symptom (e.g., "feeling unwell")
Clear Symptom (e.g., "fever")