The Instability of Response Sets

Abstract

Researchers who use surveys and long psychological instruments assume that response sets are constant over time. Data from three studies are presented that challenge this assumption. Questionnaires of different response formats, subjects, and topics were used. Correlations of the response sets across adjacent time periods formed a simplex, suggesting that the response sets across adjacent time periods were more similar than the response sets across distant time periods. The implications of the instability of response sets for the interpretation of social science findings obtained with long instruments are explored.