The Theory and Evaluation of Anchoring Effect in Visually Administered Extremely Long Response Lists
Abstract:
Numerous studies (Payne 1971; Krosnick and Alwin 1987; Ayidiya and McClendon 1990; Schwarz, Hippler, and Noelle-Neumann 1992; Malhotra 2009; Malhotra 2008) have examined response order effects in visually administered questionnaires. A number of theories have also been proposed to explain this effect, with the most popular one being the theory of satisficing (Krosnick and Alwin 1987; Krosnick 1991). According to this theory, when response alternatives are presented visually, respondents begin at the top of the list and consider each alternative individually, all while establishing a cognitive framework for evaluating later response alternatives. Read more