The Difficulties of Narrative Text Comprehension for Web Surveys (I): Satisficing and Remedies

Abstract

 In this study, we verify the difficulties of conducting web surveys, particularly ones that include narrative texts, and investigate some remedies. We identify the risk that the reading comprehension for the narrative texts in web surveys may be insufficient compared to that of face-to-face surveys, which may be an effect of effort minimizing, or satisficing, observed in prior studies. To reduce such effort-minimizing effects, we suggest some remedies; namely, (1) improved instructions, 2) screening by Instructional Question Check (IQC) whereby an instruction is inserted within the narrative text that requires a counterintuitive answer to the following question, 3) two-step survey designs, and 4) increasing the number of comprehension-checking questions. The results of this study indicate these remedies have a certain degree of effectiveness when conducting surveys with participants who are likely to appropriately comprehend the narrative texts.