Response effects in polite cultures - A test of acquiescence in Kazakhstan

Some individuals may be predisposed to agree or acquiesce more than others. If the predisposition is cultural, then studies of public attitudes that r ely on questions with agree-disagree response sets may mistake response eff ects for substantive differences among ethnic groups. In this study, I repo rt the results of six experiments in question form conducted on a 1997 nati onwide survey of 1,986 adult (age 18+) Kazakhstanis, 47 percent of whom are Kazakh and 34 percent of whom are Russian. Acquiescence bias is found amon g the entire sample, but it is stronger for ethnic Kazakhs than for ethnic Russians. Acquiescence bias is thus a problem of both question format and i ndividual proclivities. Attitude statements with agree-disagree response se ts are less valid measures of public attitudes than balanced questions with forced-choice response alternatives, and their use could cause erroneous i nferences about ethnic differences in attitudes.