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The frequent use of student self-report surveys in higher education calls into question the possibility of social desirability having an unwanted influence on responses. This research explores the potential presence of social desirability bias with the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), a widely used assessment of student behaviors. Correlations between a short social desirability scale and NSSE benchmarks, subscales, and selected items suggest that the majority of scores have no significant relationship with a measure of social desirability. A series of regression models controlling for demographic variables produce similar results. Effect sizes and estimates of explained variance are also discussed.
Survey research is becoming increasing common in education, in part due to heightened requirements for assessment and accountability at the institutional level (Kuh & Ewell, 2010). Surveys can provide a variety of information relatively easily, especially with the prevalence and availability of online data collection technology. However, this increased reliance on survey data calls into question the quality of the data. Can researchers and practitioners trust that the wealth of information gathered from the surveys is accurate and free from bias?
If there is reason to believe that questions on a survey will prompt respondents to answer untruthfully in an attempt to provide a socially appropriate response, researchers may want to explore the potentiaT presence of social desirability bias (DeVellis, 2003). Many scales have been developed to measure the tendency to respond in a socially desirable manner (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960; Paulhus, 1984). Generally, these instruments are based on the premise that there are some "ideally good" behaviors that no one actually does, and there are some "ideally bad" behaviors that everyone actually does. For instance, if a person responds "yes" to the statement "I am always a good listener, no matter who I am talking to," this would be considered a socially desirable response. Even if a person is a much better listener than most, there have likely been occasions when he or she has been irritable, or distracted, or tired and was therefore not a good listener. Conversely, if a person responds "no" to the statement "I sometimes feel resentful when I don't get my own way" this would also be considered a socially desirable response. Based on this premise,...