EFFECTS OF A PREPAID NONMONETARY INCENTIVE ON RESPONSE RATES AND RESPONSE QUALITY IN A FACE-TO-FACE SURVEY

We conducted a randomized experiment on a face-to-face interviewsurvey in order to test the effects on response rates of a prepaidnonmonetary incentive. Results showed a statistically significantincrease in response rates, mostly through reduction in refusalrates, in the half sample that received the incentive (a gift-typeballpoint pen) as compared with a no incentive control group.The effect appears to be due to greater cooperation from incentiverecipients at the initial visit by an interviewer. Unexpectedly,the incentive group also showed a significantly higher rateof sample ineligibility, possibly due to easier identificationof vacant residences or nonexistent addresses. In addition,evidence suggests greater response completeness among respondingincentive recipients early in the interview, with no evidenceof increased measurement error due to the incentive.     

The Portrayal of Blacks in Magazine Advertisements: 1950-1982

This article compares the frequency and social characteristicsof blacks and whites in advertisements in Time and Ladies' HomeJournal during 1950 and 1980. The occupational level of blacksportrayed has risen considerably, and blacks are no longer presentedas maids or servants. However, white authority figures are stillfrequently shown aiding poor blacks or supervising black children.Furthermore, ads show friendly and informal social relationshipsbetween individual whites much more frequently than they showsuch relationships between whites and blacks. Finally, in anextended analysis the frequency of black ads in 1980, 1981,and 1982 is examined for Time, Newsweek and LHJ. Blacks arestill somewhat underrepresented, and recent fluctuations inthe use of black advertisements are considered. The articlebegins and ends with a discussion of three different modelsthat might account for the way blacks are presented in advertisementsin the United States.     

The Measurement of a Middle Position in Attitude Surveys

Five split-ballot experiments, plus replications, were carriedout in several national surveys to compare the effects of offeringor omitting a middle alternative in forced-choice attitude questions.Explicitly offering a middle position significantly increasesthe size of that category, but tends not to otherwise affectunivariate distributions. The relation of intensity to the middleposition is somewhat greater on Offered forms than on Omittedforms (less intense respondents being more affected by questionform than those who feel more strongly), but in general formdoes not alter the relationship between an item and a numberof other respondent characteristics. Finally, in one instancethere is evidence that form can change the conclusion aboutwhether two attitude items are related, but the results areof uncertain reliability.     

Attitude Measurement and the Gun Control Paradox

The discrepancy between public support for gun registrationas measured in national surveys and legislative inaction onthesame issue leads to questions about the adequacy of traditionalpoll measures of public opinion. Hypotheses about three kindsof shortcomings are tested: (1) gun registration sentiment tendsto vary appreciably with question wording, and therefore isless crystallized than survey data suggest; (2) anti-gun registrationopinions are held with greater intensitythan are pro-gun registrationopinions, and therefore have different consequences for politicalaction; (3) opposition to gun registration is located particularlyamong those with greater political knowledge and influence,and thus has a disproportionate impact on legislators. Althoughthere is some evidence in support of the first two hypotheses,it does not appear sufficient to explain the discrepancy. However,the study produces a valuable finding about the use of intensitymeasures in attitude surveys, particularly the importance ofdesigning such measures for maximum sensitivity to nonlinearrelations     

RESPONSE RATES AND RESPONSE CONTENT IN MAIL VERSUS FACE-TO-FACE SURVEYS

Two surveys were administered based on the same area probabilitysampling frame and with some of the same questions: one samplewas used for hour-long face-to-face interviewing in the 1992Detroit Area Study; the other sample received a much shorterquestionnaire in the mail for sell-administration. The samplesegments had previously been stratified in terms of the percentagethat was black. For the predominantly white stratum, there wasonly a small difference in response rates due to mode of administration.For the predominantly black stratum, the mail survey obtaineda considerably lower response rate then the face-to-face survey.Within the predominantly white stratum, there were no cleardifferences between results for the two modes of administrationin demographic variables or in gross housing characteristics.However, the mail survey respondents expressed more negativeattitudes toward racial integration and affirmative action thandid the face-to-face respondents. Because the mail sample ofthe predominantly black stratum was small, it was not possibleto carry out similar analyses of demographic or attitudinaldifferences, or to determine whether its lower response ratewas due mainly to race, to correlates of race such as incomeor education, or even to problems with mail delivery in centralcities.     

Context and Contiguity in Survey Questionnaires

Previous experiments have shown an order effect for two adjacentitems, one concerning the admittance of American reporters toRussia and the other concerning the admittance of Communistreporters to the U.S. The experiment reported here found thatthis effect remained when the two items were separated by aseries of 17 other unrelated questions.     

Context Effects on Survey Responses to Questions About Abortion

The proportion of favorable responses to a general questionabout abortion was significantly smaller in an NORC survey thanwere responses to the same item in an SRC survey. We hypothesizedthat questionnaire context was the main source of the difference–inone survey the general item followed a more specific questionabout abortion–and carried out two split-ballot questionorder experiments that provide strong support for the hypothesis.The context effect seems to arise from the generality of theabortion question; the specific question itself showed no changedue to context. Furthermore, there is some evidence that ambivalencetoward the issue of abortion is a factor in the sensitivityof the general question to context. The context effect in theseexperiments is also notable for producing contrast rather thanconsistency between responses to adjacent questions on the sameissue. Implications of the findings for the study of socialchange are emphasized.