Underlying Causes behind Research Study Participants' Careless and Biased Responses in the Field of Sciences

摘要

The replicability of scientific studies based on survey instruments has become more challenging in recent times due to smaller sampling pools and response biases such as inattention and malingering. Increasing a sampling pool has its own difficulties, and a more efficient way of increasing data validity is by addressing issues linked to response biases. This paper looks at root causes that lead to response bias, particularly careless responding and malingering on the part of survey respondents. The root causes are sub-divided into participants' predisposition factors such as cognitive capabilities, personality traits, level of motivation and reaction time, situational variables such as mode of data collection, environmental distractions, researcher-participant interactions, individual idiosyncrasies and cross-cultural differences.