Did You Not Understand The Question Or Not? An Investigation Of Negatively Worded Questions In Survey Research

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">This study compared participant responses to negatively versus positively worded questionnaire statements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The literature suggested that one could expect the wording of questionnaire items (i.e., negatively worded vs. positively worded) to influence participant responses to those scale items.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The study consisted of one control group and two experimental groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>The Fashion Consciousness scale (Wilkes 1992;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Lumpkin and Darden 1982), a uni-dimensional, all-positive seven-item instrument was adapted for use in the study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Three hypotheses regarding the factor structure and internal reliability of the scale were empirically investigated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Results showed statistically significant differences in the psychometrics of the scale when negative or double negative wording was added to scale items.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Managerial implications are discussed.</span></span></p>