Eliciting People's First-Order Concerns: Text Analysis of Open-Ended Survey Questions

Beatrice Ferrario and Stefanie Stantcheva

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2022, vol. 112, 163-69

Abstract: We illustrate the design and use of open-ended survey questions to elicit people's first-order concerns on policies. Closed-ended questions are the backbone of surveys but may prime respondents to select some answers and may omit relevant options. Open-ended questions that do not constrain respondents with specific answer choices are a valuable tool for eliciting first-order thinking. We discuss three text analysis methods to analyze open-ended questions' answers and apply them to surveys on income and estate taxation. People's key concerns relate mostly to distribution issues, fairness, and trust in government rather than to efficiency, and they exhibit large partisan gaps.

JEL-codes: C83 D12 D63 D72 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Working Paper: Eliciting People's First-Order Concerns: Text Analysis of Open-Ended Survey Questions (2022)
Working Paper: Eliciting People's First-Order Concerns: Text Analysis of Open-Ended Survey Questions (2022)
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DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20221071

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