Self-reports of information seeking: Is social desirability in play?. Issue 4 (7th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Neuberger, Lindsay
• Is Part Of: Atlantic journal of communication. Volume 24:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 242
• Page End: 249
• Publication Date: 2016-08-07
• Subjects: Communication -- Periodicals; 302.205
• DOI: 10.1080/15456870.2016.1208661
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1545-6870

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Social desirability, the likelihood of individuals to overreport behaviors they perceive to be approved by others, is often cited as a limitation in research but rarely controlled in a systematic manner. Social desirability can influence self-reported behaviors (e.g., voting behavior) and communication variables (e.g., argumentativeness). Information seeking may be susceptible to the effects of social desirability as knowledge and information are generally desired, and thus may be prone to overreporting. This article presents results from two online, information-seeking tracking studies investigating the influence of social desirability on self-reported information seeking. Participants indicated how much time they actually spent seeking information on a website. Unbeknownst to participants, their website use was being tracked using Google Analytics. This article compares actual time spent seeking information to reported information-seeking time. Results suggest that participants overreport information seeking in these two studies; social desirability may explain this result.