Respondents’ reports about the frequency of everyday behavior are often found to differ considerably when either low- or high-frequency response scales are used to record the answers. It has been hypothesized that the susceptibility to this type of response effect is determined by the...

This article tests whether the Breen-Goldthorpe model offers an empirically valid prediction of educational decisions and a complete explanation of social class hereon. This is done using data from a panel study with families who decided about the secondary school tracks for their children in...

Rational choice theory and its generalization in the model of frame-selection both claim to be exhaustive explanations for social desirability response behavior in surveys, which take into account an interaction of explanatory factors. The determinants predicted from these approaches have been...

The Prospect-Theory only vaguely specifies the factors expected to determine the decision maker's reference points and therefore the emergence of framing-effects. This theoretical shortcoming is demonstrated, using the usually proposed explanation for the wording-effects observed in the context...

This paper analyzes whether respondents� attitudes toward surveys explains their susceptibility to item nonresponse. In contrast to previous studies, the decision to refuse to provide income information, not to answer other questions and the probability of �don�t know� responses is...

We analyze the relative importance of primary and secondary effects of both parents’ educational and occupational status on whether an upper or a less ambitious secondary school track is chosen after primary school in Germany. We compare standardized test scores, parents’ achievement...

Respondents� self reports about the frequency or duration of certain activities are often found to be influenced by differences in the categorisation of substantially identical response scales. The cognitive availability of the information to be recalled is supposed to be the pivotal...

It is the main aim of egocentric network studies to include the embedding of actors into certain reference groups and to analyze the resulting effects. The realization of this aim makes it necessary to cover as completely as possible the characteristics of the relevant reference persons (alters)...

In behavioral decision research a very heterogeneous set of empirical phenomena is summarized under the label

This article examines the mutual dependency of the determinants for socially desirable response behavior and the until now completely neglected relevance of the respondents attitudes towards surveys in this respect. Results from a field experiment show that this response bias is only to be...