In an experimental study involving health and social service professionals, a second mailing of a questionnaire to initial nonrespondents in a mail survey was found more cost-effective as a means of increasing returns than attempts to conduct telephone interviews, although telephone contacts suggested several reasons for nonresponse. (Author)

The tendency of some respondents to omit items more often when they feel they have a less positive evaluation to make and less frequently when the evaluation is more positive is discussed. Five examples illustrate this form of nonresponse bias. Recommendations to overcome nonresponse bias are offered. (SLD)

Background: Depressed adults may show impairment in switching attention from one task to another. Rumination on negative thoughts is associated with the onset and persistence of depressive episodes. It is unclear if such mood-related ruminations are specifically associated with slowed ability in switching attention from one task to another.…

The problem of response set is important for questionnaire designers and interpreters, but the public is affected as well if policy is determined on the basis of unsupported conclusions. This study focused on one of the most researched response sets, extreme responding (ER), or extreme checking styles, and its relationship to one dimension of…

Undergraduate students were interviewed to determine their identity states. A distinctive interpersonal style, both toward peers and toward authority was associated with each identity status. Results of these findings for a theory of identity development are discussed. (Author/DEP)

A model designed to account for major factors on personality questionnaires is proposed and evaluated using the Differential Personality Inventory. Two respondent processes are postulated: sensitivity to the underlying desirability of items, and threshold for responding desirably. (Author/JKS)

Consistency of gain from changing test answers was tested for students instructed about answer-changing research results, and composition of the gain was analyzed by examining the students' reasons for changing. Mean gain remained positive and consistent with gain for previously studied uninstructed groups; amount of change was also stable.…

Examines relative merits of the "forced-choice" mode of response v the "undecided" or the "don't know" response categories. Observations are "spin-off" of a larger research project to be reported soon. Authors invite reader reaction to their conclusion that "forced choice" is less effective than…

Content-parallel questionnaire items in which response schemes varied in one of two ways--scale alternatives were all defined or only endpoints were defined, and alternatives were numbered or lettered--were investigated on a large sample of college freshmen. (Author/JKS)

Examines the question of whether cultural and ethnic groups differ in their extreme response style. Studies questionnaire responses of Hispanic and non-Hispanic male Navy recruits and suggests that differences in extreme response style may be attributable to differences in judgment style across the two cultural groups. (MW)

This study assesses the viability of the rating approach compared to the forced choice approach by use of the Activity Preference Questionnaire. (DEP)

This study tested a variation of the random response surveying strategy designed for lengthy questionnaires to be used in group administrations or mail surveys. A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 3,000 company grade officers divided into three groups. One group received a conventional questionnaire. The second group received a random…

Four selected scales from the Learning Environment Inventory (LEI) were rewritten to measure the students' individual perceptions of their classroom environment, rather than their estimates of the opinions of the class as a whole. Both scales were then administered to 10 7th grade math classes and 4 10th grade social studies classes. The rewritten…

This 42-item Student Attitude Inventory (SAI) was administered to entering college freshmen at the University of Illinois (see TM 001 015). The SAI items are divided into nine categories on the basis of content as follows: voting behavior, drug usage, financial, Viet Nam war, education, religious behavior, pollution, housing, and alienation. A…