PART-WHOLE QUESTION ORDER EFFECTS: VIEWS OF RURALITY

A split-ballot design was used to assess part-whole questionorder effects in a mail survey. A general question asked forthe respondent's perceptions of the overall life quality inrural areas relative to other areas; a series of 19 similarquestions asked for the relative quality of specific aspectsof rural life. When the general question was asked after thespecific items, subjects were more likely to answer the generalquestion, less likely to respond that rural areas were "thesame" as other areas, and more positive in their opinions aboutrural places. The addition of a preamble–instructing subjectsto read both the general and the list of specific items beforeanswering either–failed to alter these findings. The ordereffects on responses to the general question did not appearto represent either a simple assimilation (carryover) effector a contrast (backfire) effect, both of which have been foundby other researchers. Possible reasons for the conificting findingsare discussed.