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International Journal of Public Opinion Research Advance Access originally published online on June 10, 2009
International Journal of Public Opinion Research 2009 21(2):235-247; doi:10.1093/ijpor/edp018
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The World Association for Public Opinion Research. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Phrasing Scale Items in Low-Brow or High-Brow Language on Responses

Jörg Blasius and Jürgen Friedrichs

Address correspondence to Jörg Blasius, University of Bonn, Institute for Political Science and Sociology, Lennéstr. 27, D-53113 Bonn, Germany,jblasius{at}uni-bonn.de

The wording of questions is a crucial problem in questionnaire construction. We posit that the semantic meanings of single words or short statements may differ among respondents, their interpretations and, accordingly, the responses may vary among respondents. This assumption is tested in a representative survey among residents in a deprived area in Cologne, Germany, using a scale on "Perceived Neighbourhood Disorder" introduced by Ross and Mirowski (1999). In the translated German version of the scale, we used a split-half design, varying the phrasing of eight of the eleven items by using (a) low-brow (or everyday) or (b) high-brow (or elaborated) language. Besides testing the assumption that phrasing has an effect, we wished to explore the kind of effect it has on respondents of different socio-economic characteristics such as age and education, and also attitudinal variables. The results support our assumptions: phrasing has an effect, since answers and scale means differ significantly. Results of multivariate analyses suggest that the low-brow language version is the more appropriate way for item wording.

Received for publication November 21, 2007. Accepted for publication April 4, 2009.


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