Taking Surveys Seriously? (II)

            In the previous post, I looked at whether it’s possible to code the answers to open-ended survey questions in such a way as to flag respondents who perhaps weren’t taking the survey seriously. My primary concerns were whether these outbursts of respondent hostility can affect our inferences, but also whether we can use characteristics of respondents or of particular questions to predict when these outbursts will occur. I think looking at these hostile responses is an important reminder of just how many different stories there are within a single survey. If social scientists want to generalise about these stories, then Continue reading Taking Surveys Seriously? (II)