Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: The Effects of Interviewer-Respondent Interactions on the Construction of Political Opinions

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This Doctoral Dissertation Research Support investigation examines standardized survey interview procedures to determine if these procedures depress respondents' motivation and ability to engage in effortful thinking, by alienating, confusing. and rushing respondents through the interview. The investigator tests this interviewer-respondent interaction with three complementary survey experiments. These experiments provide different means of exploring how to induce effortful thinking, how to detect it, and how to determine its effects. The experiments compare political opinions constructed under standardized procedures with those constructed under "ideal conditions" that are designed to encourage effortful processing.