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  • Faking it: Social desirability response bias in self-report research

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    Author(s)
    van de Mortel, Thea F
    Griffith University Author(s)
    van de Mortel, Thea F.
    Year published
    2008
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    Abstract
    Objective: The tendency for people to present a favourable image of themselves on questionnaires is called socially desirable responding (SDR). SDR confounds research results by creating false relationships or obscuring relationships between variables. Social desirability (SD) scales can be used to detect, minimise, and correct for SDR in order to improve the validity of questionnairebased research. The aim of this review was to determine the proportion of health-related studies that used questionnaires and used SD scales and estimate the proportion that were potentially affected by SDR. Methods: Questionnaire-based research ...
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    Objective: The tendency for people to present a favourable image of themselves on questionnaires is called socially desirable responding (SDR). SDR confounds research results by creating false relationships or obscuring relationships between variables. Social desirability (SD) scales can be used to detect, minimise, and correct for SDR in order to improve the validity of questionnairebased research. The aim of this review was to determine the proportion of health-related studies that used questionnaires and used SD scales and estimate the proportion that were potentially affected by SDR. Methods: Questionnaire-based research studies listed on CINAHL in 2004-2005 were reviewed. The proportion of studies that used an SD scale was calculated. The influence of SDR on study outcomes and the proportion of studies that used statistical methods to control for social desirability response bias are reported. Results: Fourteen thousand two hundred and seventy-five eligible studies were identified. Only 0.2% (31) used an SD scale. Of these, 43% found SDR influenced their results. A further 10% controlled for SDR bias when analysing the data. The outcomes in 45% of studies that used an SD scale were not influenced by SDR. Conclusions: While few studies used an SD scale to detect or control for SD bias, almost half of those that used an SD scale found SDR influenced their results. Recommendations: Researchers using questionnaires containing socially sensitive items should consider the impact of SDR on the validity of their research and use an SD scale to detect and control for SD bias.
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    Journal Title
    Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing
    Volume
    25
    Issue
    4
    Publisher URI
    http://www.ajan.com.au/ajan_25.4.html
    Copyright Statement
    © 2008 Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
    Subject
    Nursing
    Nursing not elsewhere classified
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/56416
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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