Achieving high-quality data is the common goal of online survey sites implementers. When conducting surveys, there is always concern about whether respondents answer seriously and how to encourage them to do so. Improving the quality of responses requires a systematic approach, but the foundation is understanding the mechanisms behind serious versus non-serious answering, allowing for effective strategies to improve response quality.
This article continues to introduce the strategies employed by respondents when they do not answer questions earnestly.
- Optimal Strategy vs. Satisficing Strategy
Economist Herbert Simon's bounded rationality decision model suggests that due to the limitations of human capability and external constraints, people often seek "satisficing" solutions rather than optimal ones when making decisions. In other words, in many cases, people look for an answer that is "good enough" rather than the best possible answer.
Similarly, answering online survey questions is a mentally demanding process. Respondents need to:
Accurately understand the question,
Recall relevant information from memory,
Integrate that information to form a judgment, and
Convert that judgment into a matching answer.
A respondent who rigorously follows these four steps is the ideal type, seeking an "optimal strategy." While many respondents do adopt this approach, often motivated by rewards or a desire to help, many others may opt for a "satisficing strategy," which involves providing an answer that seems acceptable but may not be the best or most thoughtful one due to the effort involved.
- Forms of the Satisficing Strategy
Respondents who employ a satisficing strategy may exhibit behaviors such as:
Choosing the First Reasonable Option: Many studies have found that respondents are more likely to choose early options in self-administered surveys. Rather than evaluating all options, they select the first one that seems acceptable.
Defaulting to Agreement: For attitude-based questions, satisficing respondents tend to agree with statements, as finding reasons to disagree can be more mentally taxing.
Uniform Responses to Grouped Questions: When several questions are grouped together with a shared set of response options, satisficing respondents may quickly select the same answer across all questions without considering individual question differences.
Answering "Don't Know": Satisficing respondents are more likely to choose "don't know," even when they may actually know the answer or could think through it with a bit more effort.
Random Answer Selection: Under pressure or to avoid appearing uninformed, respondents may randomly select answers without truly considering the questions.
Overly Fast Responses: Satisficing respondents may complete surveys too quickly, possibly finishing faster than it would take to read the questions thoroughly.
- Factors Promoting Satisficing
Researcher Krosnick (1991) identified three main factors influencing whether respondents adopt a satisficing or optimal strategy:
Task Difficulty: The more difficult the task (e.g., complex wording, too many options, or a long recall period), the more likely respondents will turn to shortcuts.
Respondent Ability: Respondents with lower cognitive ability (often measured by education level) are more prone to satisficing. Additionally, those with less familiarity or prior thought about the survey topic are more likely to take shortcuts.
Motivation: Respondents with lower motivation, whether due to fatigue, disinterest, or lengthy surveys, are more likely to satisfice. Surveys on topics personally relevant to respondents tend to garner more thoughtful answers.
- Conclusion
In conclusion, satisficing behavior results from a combination of task difficulty, respondent ability, and motivation. The more challenging the task, the lower the ability or motivation, the more likely respondents are to adopt a satisficing strategy. Understanding these factors can help guide improvements in survey design, ultimately enhancing data quality.
By addressing these elements—whether by simplifying questions, tailoring surveys to respondent abilities, or boosting motivation—researchers can foster better survey responses.
Now that we've covered how to approach improving survey design and enhancing data quality, you should have a clear idea of the steps to take! Of course, you can also choose DataRolls to help high-end market research projects achieve professional, fast, precise, and high-quality questionnaire design and sample services. As a professional online earning website, We offer diverse question types suitable for different survey scenarios, an easy-to-use yet powerful platform for efficiently designing professional surveys, and multiple distribution channels to reach respondents in the best possible way.
Surveys in DataRolls
At DataRolls, we carefully select rewards survey that fit your preferences, enhancing user experience and response rates. This allows you to easily earn extra money by participating in surveys.
While DataRolls does offer long surveys, you have the option to choose shorter ones, thanks to the large variety available. This flexibility means you can find surveys that suit your schedule and preferences, making it convenient to participate without feeling overwhelmed by longer questionnaires.
