AEGiS-APPJ: Question-Order Effects on Attitudes Toward AIDS: A Research Note

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Question-Order Effects on Attitudes Toward AIDS: A Research Note

AIDS & Public Policy Journal 4, no. 4 (1989): 224-28
Richard Seltzer and Carolyn Stroman

The study reported here was designed to increase our understanding of those special circumstances under which question-order effects are likely to occur. In this research we examined how responses to questions about AIDS might be affected by question order. Previous surveys that have focused on AIDS have analyzed both factual knowledge of AIDS and attitudes toward government policies aimed at stopping the disease and managing its consequences. Because AIDS spread first among the gay community, many of these surveys have also asked questions about homosexuality and gay rights. Since we can expect that many future surveys will focus on AIDS, it is important to determine what effects question order might have on responses to survey questions. Data for this study were derived from a telephone survey of 489 respondents over the age of 18 living in Washington, D.C. The survey was conducted between February 24 and March 9, 1987. The authors report that they found few question-order effects; the effects they did find were among open-ended responses, suggesting those kinds of questions are particularly vulnerable to these effects.
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