Bracketing effects in categorized survey questions and the measurement of economic quantities

Joachim Winter ()

No 02-35, Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications from Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim

Abstract: In households surveys, quantities of interest are frequently elicited using categorized (range-card) formats rather than open-ended questions. One advantage of this format is that is typically reduces item non-response. Unfortunately, results from research in social psychology suggest that the choice of bracket values in range-card questions is likely to influence responses. As yet, there is not much known about the effects of bracketing bias on the measurement of economic quantities and regression analysis. This paper reports evidence on existence and size of bracketing bias based on data from controlled survey experiments. I also discuss strategies for avoiding bracketing bias in household surveys.

Pages: 35 pages
Note: Financial support was provided by the European Union (TMR project
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sfb504.uni-mannheim.de/publications/dp02-35.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Bracketing effects in categorized survey questions and the measurement of economic quantities (2002)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:xrs:sfbmaa:02-35

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications from Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim Contact information at EDIRC., Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Carsten Schmidt ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).