Survey data quality: Do verbal ability and text readability matter?

Abstract

This study examined data quality by levels of respondents' verbal abilities and grade level reading estimates of survey text. Results indicate that students with very low verbal ability (relative to their college peers) were significantly more likely to take longer to complete each screen, skip items, break off from the survey, "skip through" screens, and straight- line items. Four estimates of grade level readability were very accurate in predicting the occurrence of straight-lining. This presentation includes a detailed discussion of results, implications for developing surveys, and the use of common computer programs to calculate readability of text.