‘NO OPINION’-FILTERS: A COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

Research on the use of ‘no opinion’-filters suggests that respondents are the less likely to offer a substantive response the more strongly the filter question is worded. A series of experiments is reported that demonstrates that filter questions influence respondents' perception of their task: the more strongly the filter question is worded, the more respondents assume that they will have to answer difficult questions, and that they may not...