Factors that influence reading and comprehension of branching instructions in self–administered questionnaires

Summary: In this paper we examine the tendency for branching instructions to be ignored,misread, or otherwise not appropriately followed so that item nonresponse occursfor follow–up questions. The potential influence on branching errors of seven features ofquestion complexity are examined, including high number of question words, high numberof answer categories, last categories branch, all categories branch, write–in responses,location at the bottom of a page, and high distance between the answer box and branchinginstruction. A logistic regression analysis revealed that question complexity had atendency to increase certain errors, but not others.* A more detailed version of this paper with additional analysis and discussion isavailable at http://www.sesrc.wsu.edu/dillman/. The opinions expressed here are thoseof the authors, not necessarily of the institutions where they presently work or the U.S.Census Bureau, which provided financial support for the collection of these data. Wewould like to thank Aref Dajani and Yves Thibaudeau for their advice on the analysisused in this paper.