Positive vs. Negative: The Impact of Question Polarity in Voting Advice Applications

Area of Science:

• Political Science
• Survey Methodology
• Computational Social Science

Background:

• Online Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) are increasingly popular tools for citizens' opinion formation and political debate.
• The objectivity and transparency of VAAs are critical due to their influence on public opinion.
• Survey methodology research indicates that question wording, specifically polarity (positive vs. negative), can systematically affect responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether question polarity influences user answers in Voting Advice Applications (VAAs).
• To analyze the effects of implicit and explicit negations in VAA statements on user responses.
• To determine if these effects differ based on users' political sophistication.

Main Methods:

• A field experiment was conducted during the Dutch municipal elections with 31,112 participants.
• The study analyzed the effects of question polarity on 16 VAA statements featuring diverse linguistic contrasts.
• Statistical analyses were used to assess the impact of wording on user responses.

Main Results:

• A significant effect of question wording polarity was found for statements with both implicit and explicit negations.
• These wording effects were particularly pronounced among VAA users with lower levels of political sophistication.
• This study provides the first evidence of consistent wording effects for both implicit and explicit negations in VAAs.

Conclusions:

• VAA builders must be mindful of question wording choices to ensure objectivity and transparency.
• The findings underscore the importance of considering question polarity, especially for less politically sophisticated users.
• Careful VAA design is essential to mitigate potential biases introduced by question wording.