Will the Questions Ever End? Person-Level Increases in Careless Responding During Questionnaire Completion

Is there a point within a self-report questionnaire where participants will start responding carelessly? If so, then after how many items do participants reach that point? And what can researchers do to encourage participants to remain careful throughout the entirety of a questionnaire? We conducted two studies (Study 1N= 358; Study 2N= 129) to address these questions. Our results found (a) consistent evidence that participants responded more carelessly as they progressed further into a questionnaire, (b) mixed evidence that participants who were warned that carelessness would be punished displayed smaller increases in carelessness, and (c) mixed evidence that increases in carelessness were greater within an unproctored online study (Study 1) than within a proctored laboratory study (Study 2). These findings help address when and why careless responding is likely to occur, and they suggest effective preventive strategies.

Automated summary

The results of the studies showed that participants tended to respond more carelessly as they progressed further into the questionnaire; participants who were warned that carelessness would be punished displayed smaller increases in carelessness; increases in carelessness were greater within an unproctored online study compared to a proctored laboratory study.