It Is Well Known That the Order of the Questions

question 4

Essay

It is well known that the order of the questions in a survey can affect the responses.This is thought to occur because issues raised in one question are remembered whenresponding to later questions. In 1948 many people in the United States wereconcerned about the spread of communism as a political and economic philosophy. Asurvey given that year contained both of the following questions:(i) Do you think the United States should let Communist newspaper reportersfrom other countries come in here and send back to their papers the news asthey see it?
(ii) Do you think a Communist country like Russia should let Americannewspaper reporters come in and send back to America the news as they seeit?
The following table contains the percentages of the Yes/No answers to question (i)given by respondents when asked these questions in different orders.Responses to Communist reporter question in 1948
(a) Construct a comparative bar chart using these response percentages.
(b) Do you think the order of the questions made a difference in the responses?
Explain why or why not in a few sentences.

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Definitions:

Behavioral Confirmation

The self-fulfilling prophecy tendency for a person to become the kind of person others expect him or her to be; also called the expectancy effect.

Expectancy Effect

The tendency for someone to become the kind of person others expect him or her to be; also known as a self-fulfilling prophecy and behavioral confirmation.

Expectancy Effect

The phenomenon where people's expectations or beliefs influence their own or others' behavior, often leading to those expectations being fulfilled.

Priming Study

An experimental procedure used to influence participants' subsequent thoughts and behaviors by exposing them to specific stimuli beforehand.