Factors Influencing Random Responding: Questionnaire Length and Psychological Reactance

Research has shown that random responding in questionnaire data can cause Type I and Type II error. This study aims to identify questionnaire length and psychological reactance (i.e., rebelliousness) as determinants of random responding. Studies indicate that long questionnaires hinder participants’ motivation to answer items conscientiously due to lack of motivation. A participant may also react in response to being told how to respond to questionnaire items and intentionally answer items randomly. Participants will be randomly assigned to complete either a long or short questionnaire and will be given either a neutral or reactance priming task. Random responders (RR) will be identified using the 5-item Conscientious Responders Scale (CRS), a validity scale, and the Inter-Item Standard Deviation (ISD), a statistical comparison of response consistency. We expect that participants who receive both the long questionnaire and the reactance priming task will produce higher rates of random responding than participants receiving the shorter questionnaire or neutral priming task. We also anticipate an interaction effect between psychological reactance and length of questionnaire such that longer questionnaire length will produce greater rates of random responding at lower levels of reactance and vice versa. Identifying RR in questionnaire data can increase the reliability of statistical outcomes, allowing testers to adjust questionnaires to keep RR rates as low as possible