NO-OPINION FILTERS AND ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT RELIABILITY

Many survey researchers believe that the quality of answers to attitud e questions may be improved by using no-opinion filters to remove thos e responses that are not based on true opinions. The authors investiga te whether reliability, one aspect of data quality, is greater for fil tered questions. Split-ballot experiments from two telephone surveys o f the Akron, Ohio metropolitan area are used to estimate the effect of filtered questions on the reliability of items from Srole's anomia sc ale, Rosenberg's self-esteem scale, and a scale of attitudes toward la wyers. There is no evidence that filtered questions improve reliabilit y, and in the case of self-esteem, reliability may be reduced on the f iltered form.