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KEY WORDS
socially desirable responding, validity, bias, questionnaire
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 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.
INTRODUCTION
Researchers using questionnaires and interviews rely on truthful responses from participants to draw meaningful conclusions. Socially desirable responding is the tendency for participants to present a favourable image of themselves (Johnson and Fendrich 2005). The participant may believe the information they report (self-deception), or may 'fake good' to conform to socially acceptable values, avoid criticism, or gain social approval (King and Brunner 2000 p.81; Huang et al 1998). Socially desirable responding is most likely to occur in responses to socially sensitive questions (King and Brunner 2000). For example, Adams et al (2005) used labelled water measurements, self-report, and activity monitors to determine physical activity levels and found participants with a high SD score were significantly more likely...