The document discusses response bias in psychological research, specifically focusing on concepts like response sets, social desirability bias, and acquiescence. It highlights the various factors that can influence participant responses, leading to inaccuracies in self-reported data. Additionally, it suggests methods to mitigate these biases to improve the validity of research findings.

1. RESPONSE
BIAS/SET
D R . G A R I M A G U P T A
A S S I S T A N T P R O F E S S O R
D E P A R T M E N T O F P S Y C H O L O G Y
A R Y A M A H I L A P . G . C O L L E G E
A D M I T T E D T O T H E P R I V I L E G E S O F B H U , V A R A N A S I

2.  Response set is a type of response bias. More generally, a response set is a readiness to engage in a certain type
of response. It is tendency to respond in a particular way to a given set of circumstances particularly a
questionnaire, interview etc.
 Response styles refer to a systematic tendency to use certain categories of the answering scale on some basis
other than the target construct (Cronbach, 1950).
 Response bias is a general term for a wide range of cognitive biases that influence the responses of
participants away from an accurate or truthful response. These biases are most prevalent in the types of
studies and research that involve participant self-report, such as structured interviews or surveys.
 Response biases can have a large impact on the validity of the questionnaire or survey to which the
participant is responding. This bias can be induced or caused by a number of factors, all relating to the idea
that human subjects do not respond passively to stimuli, but rather actively integrate multiple sources of
information to generate a response in a given situation
 It is tendency to respond in a particular way to a given set of circumstances particularly a questionnaire,
interview etc.
 It is a tendency to use certain categories of the answering scale on some basis other than the target
construct (Cronbach, 1950).

3. Social
Desirability

4. • Social desirability bias describes the tendency of survey respondents to answer
questions in a manner that will be viewed favourably by others.
• It can take the form of over-reporting "good behaviour" or under-reporting "bad",
or undesirable behaviour.
• The tendency poses a serious problem with conducting research with self-reports,
especially questionnaires. This bias interferes with the interpretation of average
tendencies as well as individual differences. For example, if the participants are ever
asked whether they have ever stolen anything, participants may lie in order to avoid
presenting themselves in a bad light, consequently leading to gathering inaccurate
data.
• Social desirability consist of two factors, self deception and impression management.
Self-deception is viewed as the natural tendency to see oneself favorably. This has been
linked to other personality factors such as anxiety, achievement, motivation, and self-
esteem.
• The respondent's lack of comfort to reveal his or her true attitudes (Tourangeau et al.,
2000; Tourangeau et al., 2007; Groves et al., 2009, Holgraves 2004) is called
'impression management' (Holgraves, 2004). It is considered as situational dependent
desire to present oneself in a positive light. This can manifest itself in the form of false
reports and deliberately biased answers to survey questions.

5. • Topics where social desirability can be seen:
• Personal income and earnings, often inflated when low and deflated when
high,
• Feelings of low self-worth and/or powerlessness, often denied,
• Compliance with medicinal dosing schedules,
• Patriotism, either inflated or, if denied, done so with a fear of other party's
judgement,
• Bigotry and intolerance, Intellectual achievements, often inflated,
• Physical appearance, either inflated or deflated,
• Acts of real or imagined physical violence, often denied,
• Indicators of charity or "benevolence", often inflated,
• Illegal acts, often denied

6. Acquiescence

7. • It referred to as yea-saying, is a category of response bias in which
respondents to a survey have a tendency to agree with all the questions in
a measure. The tendency to prefer the higher ratings over lower ratings,
whatever the content of the question.
• This bias in responding may represent a form of dishonest reporting
because the participant automatically endorses any statements, even if it
results in contradictory responses. For example, a participant could be
asked whether they endorse the following statement, "I like to spend time
with others" but then later on in the survey also endorses "I like to spend
time alone," which are contradictory statements.
• Nay-saying is the opposite form of this bias. It occurs when a participant
always chooses to deny or not endorse any statements in a survey or
measure.
• For example, Weijters et al. (2010) found that acquiescence increases
when adding a midpoint in the response anchors.

8. CAUSES OF ACQUIESCENCE
• One of the possible reason for acquiescence is that participants may get influenced to change
their behavior, by showing their agreement to be part of the survey. The feeling of being the part
of the survey could amend first how they think of themselves, and then how they answer the
questions.
• The another reason for acquiescence is the lack of motivation of the participants at the time of
participation in study. Respondents who are not highly motivated to think through the questions,
opt mental shortcuts when they are responding to questions. However, this may be due to
various reason such as: If the study is not aimed at the right audience, the questions are not clear
enough, the study/survey does not engage the participant enough to want to complete it, the
survey is too long or the participant does not have the time to complete the survey
• There might be such questions in the survey that can cause extreme beliefs of a participant, who
may hold a strong view on an issue. *For example, a question asking ‘Do you agree that reducing
greenhouse gas emissions is everybody’s responsibility?’ is leading the participant to answer
either ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’, depending on their view - even if there was a ‘slightly agree’ or
‘neither agree nor disagree’ option available. This indicates that the participants don’t believe a
‘middle-ground’ answer exists. * https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/avoiding-the-yes-
bias/

9. HOW TO REDUCE
ACQUIESCENCE?

10. • Using questions/items with binary response format such as “Yes/No”, “True/False”,
and “Agree/Disagree”.
• By reformulating the response formats and options to match closely with the subject
of the question.
• Proper care is needed when the researcher is seeking confirmation on overly
emotional positions. Therefore, question can be positioned in a neutral and non-
alarming way, so that each answer will be given due consideration.
• Assurance would be given to the respondents by telling them that they can opt-out if
they don’t feel comfortable completing the survey. This may in turn help them to
preventing anxiety about the survey. When the participants choose to continue,
they’ll more likely be willing to answer honestly as they’ll feel in control. Due to this,
the results will get prevented from being diluted by inconsistent or incorrect data.
• In case, if the survey is having few sensitive questions, then different research format
would be used to collect data. This can be through video interviews or in-person
survey collection, that gives the participant an opportunity to expand their answer
and explain the rationale behind their answers.

11. Demand
Characteristics

12. • Demand characteristics is visible where participants alter their response or
behaviour simply because they are part of an experiment.
• This arises because participants are actively engaged in the experiment, and may try
and figure out the purpose, or adopt certain behaviours they believe belong in an
experimental setting.
• Since, a repeated measures study design excavate the problem of demand
characteristics, because the participants participate in all conditions of the
experiments that may help the participants to get sufficient information to consider
the ‘real’ purpose of the study.
• However, use of Independent groups and matched pairs designs may lower the risk,
as participants will not perform more than one condition of the experiment, so will
be less likely to look into the study’s aims. Apart from this, plan of conducting
observational studies may also lessen the chance of demand characteristics, as
participants might not know that they are taking part in a study.
• Use of deception may reduce the possibility that participants are able to guess the
hypothesis of the experiment, causing participants to act more naturally.

13. Extreme Responding-
• Extreme responding is a form of response bias that drives
respondents to only select the most extreme options or
answers available.
• For example, in a survey utilizing a Likert scale with potential
responses ranging from 1 to 5, the respondent may only give
answers as 1's or 5’s.
• Another example would be if the participant only answered
questionnaires with "strongly agree" or "strongly disagree" in a
survey with that type of response style.
Dissimulation -
• It means disguising one’s emotion and attitude. For example,
many people fake good or bad in job promotion or award.

14. • Evasion (escaping, avoiding)-
Hides reality. It is a tendency to mark ‘?’, “uncertain”, “
Indifferent”.
• Guessing-
Don’t know the answer and uses guessing which are generally
used for difficult items.
• Central Tendency-
Tendency to mark the points lying at the middle of the scale
• Cautiousness tendency-
Leave responding such items for which he is not sure. It usually
happens with attitude scales or intelligence tests.
• Mimetic tendency-
The respondent is guided by the testers preference. It usually
happens in Interviews.

15. •Deviation Set:
• Tendency to give very unusual/uncommon response to items
in a test. This type of response may be seen in
TAT/Rorschach or non-verbal tests.
• Tendency to work speedily:
• Tendency to work for speed rather than accuracy is another
common response set. This is observed amongst test of
specific abilities/ability.
Semantic Bias-
• The meaning of always, often, sometime is not evenly
understand by respondents.

16. RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS
OF
RESPONSE BIAS

17. • Ambiguity of the test results (this may not present correct
response or true picture of behavioral response or traits being
measured)
• Persistence- it will present in all (if the participants present
any sort of bias, it will be found in any type of test)
• Item difficulty- it leads to guessing (if items are difficult, it
may enhance the chance of using guessing
• Use of unstructured test- RT & TAT are less objective or
subjective in nature. Subjective type of test decrease the
chance of response bias.
• Vague instructions- It leads to distortion of results. If
instruction are not made clear to participants this may in turn
lead to any kind of response bias.

18. METHODS
OF
CONTROLLING
RESPONSE SET

19. • Use of multiple choice items in the questionnaire/test
• Use of forced choice items in the questionnaire/test
(yes/no)
• Use of items with adequate difficulty level in the
questionnaire/test
• Change in instructions if needed. The instructions
should be more properly structured.
• Use of good and appropriate scoring formula should be
devised.
• Use of negative items in the test as negative marking will
control guessing.
• Use of correction keys