Survey Research

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Related to the issue of response errors, especially response order bias and response bias, is the issue of satisficing. According to Krosnick, Narayan, and Smith (1996) satisficing is the notion that certain survey response patterns occur as respondents "shortcut the cognitive processes necessary for generating optimal answers" (p. 29). This theoretical perspective arises from the belief that most respondents are not highly motivated to answer a survey's questions, as reflected in the declining response rates in recent years. Since many people are reluctant to be interviewed, it is presumptuous to assume that respondents will devote a lot of effort to answering a survey.

The theoretical notion of satisficing can be further understood by considering what respondents must do to provide optimal answers. According to Krosnick et. al. (1996), "respondents must carefully interpret the meaning of each question, search their memories extensively for all relevant information, integrate that information carefully into summary judgments, and respond in ways that convey those judgments' meanings as clearly and precisely as possible"(p. 31). Therefore, satisficing occurs when one or more of these cognitive steps is compromised.

Satisficing takes two forms: weak and strong. Weak satisficing occurs when respondents go through all of the cognitive steps necessary to provide optimal answers, but are not as thorough in their cognitive processing. For example, respondents can answer a question with the first response that seems acceptable instead of generating an optimal answer. Strong satisficing, on the other hand, occurs when respondents omit the steps of judgment and retrieval altogether.

Even though they believe that not enough is known yet to offer suggestions on how to increase optimal respondent answers, Krosnick et. al. (1996) argue that satisficing can be reduced by maximizing "respondent motivation" and by "minimizing task difficulty" in the survey questionnaire (p. 43).