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Personality and Survey Satisficing.

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we consider the role of personality as a component of motivation in promoting or inhibiting the tendency to exhibit the satisficing response styles of midpoint, straightlining, and Don't Know responding. We assess whether respondents who are low on the Conscientiousness and Agreeableness dimensions of the Big Five Personality Inventory are more likely to exhibit these satisficing response styles. We find large effects of these personality dimensions on the propensity to satisfice in both face-to-face and self-administration modes and in probability and nonprobability samples. People who score high on Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were less likely to be in the top decile of straightlining and midpoint distributions. The findings for Don't Know responding were weaker and only significant for Conscientiousness in the nonprobability sample. We also find large effects across all satisficing indicators for a direct measure of cognitive ability, where existing studies have mostly relied on proxy measures of ability such as educational attainment. Sensitivity analysis suggests the personality effects are likely to be causal in nature.

SUBMITTER: Sturgis P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10662660 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Personality and Survey Satisficing.

Sturgis Patrick P Brunton-Smith Ian I

Public opinion quarterly 20230917 3

In this paper, we consider the role of personality as a component of motivation in promoting or inhibiting the tendency to exhibit the satisficing response styles of midpoint, straightlining, and Don't Know responding. We assess whether respondents who are low on the Conscientiousness and Agreeableness dimensions of the Big Five Personality Inventory are more likely to exhibit these satisficing response styles. We find large effects of these personality dimensions on the propensity to satisfice ...[more]

PMID: 38024643

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Project description:Survey satisficing occurs when participants respond to survey questions rapidly without carefully reading or comprehending them. Studies have demonstrated the occurrence of survey satisficing, which can degrade survey quality, particularly in longitudinal studies.The aim of this study is to use a group-based trajectory analysis method to identify satisficers when similar survey questions were asked periodically in a long-standing cohort, and to examine factors associated with satisficing in the surveys having sensitive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related behavioral questions.Behavioral data were collected semiannually online at all four sites of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) from October 2008 through March 2013. Based on the start and end times, and the word counts per variable, response speed (word counts per second) for each participant visit was calculated. Two-step group-based trajectory analyses of the response speed across 9 study visits were performed to identify potential survey satisficing. Generalized linear models with repeated measures were used to investigate the factors associated with satisficing on HIV-related behavioral surveys.Among the total 2138 male participants, the median baseline age was 51 years (interquartile range, 45-58); most of the participants were non-Hispanic white (62.72%, 1341/2138) and college graduates (46.59%, 996/2138), and half were HIV seropositive (50.00%, 1069/2138). A total of 543 men (25.40%, 543/2138) were considered potential satisficers with respect to their increased trajectory tendency of response speed. In the multivariate analysis, being 10 years older at the baseline visit increased the odds of satisficing by 44% (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.27-1.62, P<.001). Compared with the non-Hispanic white participants, non-Hispanic black participants were 122% more likely to satisfice the HIV-related behavioral survey (OR 2.22, 95% CI 1.69-2.91, P<.001), and 99% more likely to do so for the other race/ethnicity group (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.39-2.83, P<.001). Participants with a high school degree or less were 67% more likely to satisfice the survey (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.26-2.21, P<.001) compared with those with a college degree. Having more than one sex partner and using more than one recreational drug reduced the odds of satisficing by 24% (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.61-0.94, P=.013) and 28% (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.55-0.93, P=.013), respectively. No statistically significant association of HIV serostatus with satisficing was observed.Using a group-based trajectory analysis method, we could identify consistent satisficing on HIV-related behavioral surveys among participants in the MACS, which was associated with being older, being non-white, and having a lower education level; however, there was no significant difference by HIV serostatus. Methods to minimize satisficing using longitudinal survey data are warranted.

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Personality and Survey Satisficing.

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Personality and Survey Satisficing.

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