Tiny Tip Tuesday #28

Response Bias in Surveys - I

In our past few tips, we learned about selection bias and its effect in surveys. Another type of bias that occurs is when respondents provide false responses or answer untruthfully in a survey. This is called response bias.

Our next few tips will focus on ways to minimize response bias and how to create surveys that are reliable.

Response bias tip #1: Dealing with the "Yes/Acquiescence" bias

You've probably come across respondents who answer "yes" or agree to any question that has been asked in the survey, regardless of the content. This results in achieving contradictory and untruthful survey responses, thereby making your data inaccurate. To avoid this, make sure you include no leading questions or questions that ask for their agreement or disagreement with a predefined statement. Instead, ask them a direct question to discover their perspective.

Your respondents are likely to agree to a statement like this:

The surveying experience with Zoho Survey is just a breeze. Do you agree?

Instead, you could ask:

How would you rate your overall experience with Zoho Survey?

Have you come across any sort of response bias in your surveys? Let us know in the comments or email us at support@zohosurvey.com. We'll be back with yet another tip soon!