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The Contamination of Responses to Survey Items: Economic Perceptions and Political Judgments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2017

Nathaniel Wilcox  and
Christopher Wlezien
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Abstract

Much research shows that individuals' economic perceptions strongly influence their political judgments, but some scholars suggest that typical survey designs may induce this influence due to the order and proximity of items in the surveys. This study explores the extent of such “contamination” of responses to both economic and political items in surveys, using an experimental design that varies survey item order across subjects. The results show that contamination is present in responses to both political and economic items, particularly when they are placed close together. Perhaps most importantly, the pervasive and deep contamination of responses to economic items suggests potentially serious implications for research on how economic perceptions influence political judgments. Ultimately, the findings are suggestive about the parameters of contamination and also the general nature (and theory) of the survey response.

Type
Research Article
Information
Political Analysis , Volume 5 , 1993 , pp. 181 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Political Methodology 

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