Which question do you think brought more support?

Question

Question 1: Like Dave Barry, people generally want to appear knowledgeable and agreeable, and they want to present a favorable face to the world. How might that affect the results of a survey conducted by a school on the satisfication of its graduates with their education?

Question 2: Another part of the Reader's Digest poll described on page 226 asked Americans if they agree with the statement that it is not the government's job to financially support television programming. The poll also asked them if they'd be disappointed if Congress cut its funding for public television. Which question do you think brought out more support for public television? Why?

Answer 1

Question 1 describes a threat to the validity of the survey that is commonly referred to as social desirability bias.

 

Question 2 describes questions that designed to "push" respondents to a particular answer. These so called "push" questions are designed to psychologically manipulate the respondents. The answer depends on which question was asked first and what other questions were asked in the survey as they may bias the outcome and not be reflective of actual opinions.