Cultural patterns of evasive answer bias in surveys

Abstract

Complete and accurate survey data are key input for research, policy, and decision making in many disciplines. However, survey respondents do not always fully cooperate, such that they skip some items or overuse the “don’t know” answer option. Evasive answer bias reflects different information than overall survey response rates, leading to item missing data and causing substantial inaccuracies in survey results. Using data from the World Values Survey, this article identifies the magnitude of the problem, then relies on individual data and country-level cultural values to derive patterns of and reasons for this evasive answer bias. While skipping answers happens less often in collectivistic and low power distance cultures, the choice of the “don’t know” option is not significantly influenced by any cultural dimension. Across countries, the effect of cultural values is stronger for female than for male respondents. Accordingly, cross-cultural researchers are advised to use advanced imputation rather than deletion methods for handling missing data.