Utilizing the Potentials of Twin Studies to Improve Our Understanding of Satisficing Response Behaviour in Surveys

Research question/goal: 

When answering survey questions, respondents may engage in satisficing response behaviour. Satisficing means not properly progressing through all steps of the cognitive response process. The proposed project extends the existing satisficing theory to include stable and dynamic characteristics of the respondent, situation, instrument, and culture and context of a survey. To disentangle the interactions in the relationship between these factors and response behaviour, the project utilizes the potentials of different international longitudinal twin studies. Building on the theoretical contributions and empirical findings of the project, solutions to improve survey questions are developed in order to mitigate satisficing.

Current stage: 

The project team has started to systematically review survey methodological and psychological literature on satisficing and response styles to better understand survey response behaviour. In addition, the project’s grant proposal is currently being revised for resubmission to the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Fact sheet

Funding: 
MZES
Duration: 
2022 to 2026
Status: 
in preparation
Data Sources: 
existing international twin study data and new survey data
Geographic Space: 
Germany and other countries with twin studies

Publications