the psychology of survey response

mind-and-cognition

• Comprehension is an active social endeavor; speakers and listeners collaborate to make sure they understand what's been said well enough for the purposes at hand.

  VLA-915F6A67-RC-053

• Episodic memory doesn't allow much in the way of inferences to fill in missing information; visiting an internist may remind you of visiting an ophthalmologist.

  VLA-915F6A67-RC-068

• The probability of retrieving a specific consideration is proportional to its accessibility, shaped by question wording, judgment context, and long-term priming.

  VLA-915F6A67-RC-162

obedience-and-authority

• Respondents assume questions meet the sincerity condition — that the correct answer is to be found among the options presented — and overwhelmingly select from those categories.

  VLA-823A8176-RC-219

• It is simply mistaken to think the meaning of 'meat and poultry' extends to peanut butter, no matter what participants mutually decide to believe.

  VLA-915F6A67-RC-057

self-and-identity

• Sexual behavior is deeply intertwined with self-concept and self-esteem; interviewer presence and threat of disapproval are likely to inhibit candid reporting.

  VLA-915F6A67-RC-244