Tiny Tip Tuesday #29

Response Bias in Surveys - II

In our previous tip, we discussed yes/acquiescence bias. The second type of response bias is the demand characteristics bias, where the results of a study are biased due to the experimenters' expectations creating an implicit demand for the participants to perform as expected. This bias is common in surveying and is caused when respondents are influenced by the knowledge that they are part of a study. The tendency to respond to the survey with preset expectations results in delivering untruthful responses.

For example, a survey on the user experience of a mobile app can suggest to participants that the responses will be used to revamp the app. This will result in the participant responding to the survey in a way that supports the changes rather than providing truthful responses.

Let's learn how to fix this.

Response bias tip #2: Dealing with demand characteristics bias

Be careful while stating your survey's goals—some respondents will pay close attention to these and might intentionally respond in a way that helps you accomplish them.
Ask relevant and unbiased questions, and don't give your respondents a chance to guess the answers you want.
Make your survey as engaging and interactive as possible so that your respondents aren't forced to answer the survey in a particular way.
Be neutral in your email communications. It's possible that a friendly greeting to a known respondent while asking them to take your survey can inadvertently impact their responses.

Follow these tips while crafting your next survey to make sure you receive accurate and truthful survey responses.