Comprehension Context and Sponsor Effects in a Hospital Mental Health Study. (August 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gibson, C. Ben; Mayhall, Timothy B.
• Is Part Of: Sociological methods & research. Volume 48:Number 3(2019)
• Page Start: 677
• Page End: 697
• Publication Date: 2019-08
• Subjects: comprehension context -- interviewer effects -- survey research -- mental health -- self-reports -- sponsor effects; Sociology -- Research -- Periodicals; Sociology -- Methodology -- Periodicals; 301.072
• DOI: 10.1177/0049124117729706
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0049-1241

Abstract

Although a wealth of literature exists studying the effect of sponsor characteristics on self-reports of mental health, little work assesses a related but potentially powerful effect: a context comprehension effect, that is, a change in the respondent's interpretation of a survey question, given the concept elicited by the interviewer. Further, most studies of sponsor effects assess mean differences in responses according to sponsor type; no work has studied how these effects can affect the reliability of a psychometric instrument, which are of general importance to sociological studies of health. Here, using a study of 169 recently discharged hospital patients, we find that both effects are likely to have affected responses and, together, negated the reliability of a psychometric instrument. Future studies should consider the effect of not only sponsor characteristics upon responses but also consider how questions might be interpreted given in an interview context.