Tiny Tip Tuesday #30

Response Bias in Surveys - III

In the previous few tips, we discussed common kinds of response bias in surveys. The third type of response bias is desirability bias.

Desirability bias is the tendency of respondents to respond to a sensitive question in a way that's desirable or favorable to a majority. These biased responses can lead to an over-reporting of "good" behavior and under-reporting of "undesirable" behavior.

Response bias tip #3: Dealing with desirability bias

Make your surveys anonymous, so that your respondents don't fear the world knowing about their responses.
Keep your brand name away or probably remove your logo from the survey to avoid any prejudice your respondent would have while responding to your survey.
Ensure your respondents' privacy and promise them that their responses will remain confidential.
Avoid asking leading questions.
Do not ask questions in a way where societal conditioning will encourage someone to respond in a certain manner.
Word your questions well and avoid anything that would offend your respondent. Assume that you're running a survey to analyze the effects of smoking on one's health, you could avoid asking a direct question on your respondents' habits. For example, instead of asking, "Are you a smoker?", you could ask, "Do you think smoking would affect one's health?"