Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Not Offering Don't Know Options In Brand Image Surveys Contaminates Data, Sara Dolnicar, John R. Rossiter

John Rossiter

The aims of this study were (1) to understand the extent to which offering or not offering a Don’t know option has the potential of contaminating survey data, and (2) to investigate the interaction between offering a Don’t know option and the verbalisation of scale points. Results from an experimental study with 196 online panel members indicate that empirical data sets can be contaminated if Don’t know options are not offered to respondents who are unable to to assess an object under study. The maximum extent of data contamination could not be determined because only one product category was examined. …