An examination of question sequence effects on measures of attitudes and related variables

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the issue of possible effects of attitudinal measurement processes. In particular, the issue being examined is how measurement processes affect an individual's responses to subsequent questions. The questions being used for this study pertain to the donation of blood and are taken from a previous study conducted by Bagozzi (1982). Bagozzi's research involved investigating several antecedents of blood donation, including perceived consequences of giving blood, a representation of the affect toward this act, and expressions of intentions to perform various behaviors associated with blood donation. The current study will not attempt to test the Bagozzi model, but rather, to use the Bagozzi (1982) measurement framework to test hypotheses about the potential affects of measuring attitudinal variables.

The current research will attempt to provide additional knowledge concerning the process of measurement. Although the subject of blood donation may not seem to be a common marketing or psychological topic it does share common characteristics with them. The blood donation questionnaire accesses values, expectancies or potential outcomes of a certain behavior, intentions, and prior knowledge. These question characteristics are common to numerous situations found in both psychology and marketing. The main intent of the current research, however, is not to examine whether or not people will donate blood, but whether the very act and method of questioning them actually manipulates this likelihood. Understanding this process is truly a universal need and will aid researchers in all fields interested in obtaining unbiased and useful information from measurements of human attitudes.