Survey Context Effects in Anchoring Vignettes.” http://polmeth.wustl.edu/workingpapers.php

Methodologists (King et al. 2004; King and Wand 2007) have recently proposed a novel approach to adjusting for bias in interpersonal and cross-cultural comparisons in survey research. The method centers on the use of anchoring vignettes to allow the statistical correction of differential usage of ordinal response scales at the individual or group level. Using data from a randomized survey experiment I investigate whether analyses based on these vignettes may be vulnerable to the introduction of survey artifacts due to vignette ordering or the placement of the self-assessment item rela-tive to the vignettes. I find several patterns of bias due to context effects. Researchers using anchoring vignettes should consider randomization or other methods to mitigate these problems.