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Probing in Cognitive Interviews can Promote Acquiescence.
Frederick G Conrad1, Rachel E Davis2, Carolyn Lau3
1University of Michigan.
Methoden, Daten, Analysen
|April 9, 2026
Summary
Directive probes in cognitive interviewing may encourage respondents to agree with interpretations they haven't experienced, similar to Acquiescent Response Style (ARS). This affirmation bias can negatively impact survey data quality.
Area of Science:
- Survey methodology
- Cognitive interviewing
- Psychometrics
Background:
- Cognitive interviewing is a best practice for pretesting survey questionnaires.
- Concerns exist that probing may elicit problems respondents haven't experienced.
- Acquiescent Response Style (ARS) is the tendency to agree regardless of content.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if directive probes in cognitive interviews promote an affirmation bias.
- To examine the influence of probe type on reported interpretations.
Main Methods:
- An experiment embedded in a cognitive interview pretest of a health survey.
- Comparison of directive probes (DP) versus non-directive probes (NP).
- 41 respondents used DP, 26 used NP.
Main Results:
- DP respondents affirmed queried interpretations over five times more than NP respondents.
- NP respondents volunteered alternative interpretations over four times more than DP respondents.
- Effects were stronger for younger respondents and those with lower education.
Conclusions:
- Directive probing in cognitive interviews may induce an affirmation bias, resembling ARS.
- This bias can compromise the quality of evidence from cognitive interviews.
- Non-directive probes may yield more genuine respondent interpretations.
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