"I know what you're going to ask me" Why respondents don't read survey questions. (July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brosnan, Kylie; Babakhani, Nazila; Dolnicar, Sara
• Is Part Of: International journal of market research. Volume 61:Number 4(2019)
• Page Start: 366
• Page End: 379
• Publication Date: 2019-07
• Subjects: answer options -- eye-tracking -- questionnaire design -- respondent inattention -- survey instructions; Marketing research -- Periodicals; 658.8305
• DOI: 10.1177/1470785318821025
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1470-7853

Abstract

Tracking respondents' eyes while they complete a survey reveals that (a) they do not read instructions, survey questions, and answer options carefully enough, investing only as little as 32% of the required time; (b) their attention diminishes over the course of the survey; and (c) their self-reports of the survey experience do not reflect actual survey completion behavior. As much as 15% of survey data may be negatively affected by systematic respondent inattention. From these findings, we derive practical recommendations on how to improve pre-testing of surveys and how to reduce the likelihood of survey respondents ignoring instructions and not reading survey questions and answer options.