Exploring tips to detect “satisficing” in an online survey: A study using university student samples

Abstract

This study focuses on “satisficing” (answering behaviors in which participants do not devote appropriate attentional resources to the survey (Krosnick, 1991)) in an online survey and aims to investigate, via various indices, to what extent these behaviors are observed among students whose participation was solicited by the researchers in their universities. This study also aims to explore effective techniques to detect individuals who show satisficing tendencies as efficiently and accurately as possible. Online surveys were carried out at nine universities. Generally speaking, the predictive capability of various types of detection indices was not high. Though direct comparison with online survey panels was impossible because of differences in measurement methodology, the satisficing tendencies of university students were generally low. Our findings show that when using university students as samples for a study, researchers need not be “too intent” on detecting satisficing tendencies, and that it was more important to control the answering environment, depending on the content of the survey.