Social Desirability Bias in Contingent Valuation Surveys Administered Through In-Person Interviews

This paper presents empirical evidence of mode effects in contingent valuation surveys. We conducted an on-site, split-sample contingent valuation survey of visitors to Fort Sumter National Monument, South Carolina. All respondents were told that the survey was being conducted on behalf of the National Park Service. We find that WTP for a fort visit is approximately 23–29% higher when the survey is administered through face-to-face interviews with a ballot box rather than being self-administered by the respondent. (JEL Q26, H40)

[1]  Walter L. Smith.  Probability and Statistics , 1959, Nature.

[2]  R. Fisher.  Social Desirability Bias and the Validity of Indirect Questioning , 1993 .

[3]  S. F. Edwards,et al.  Overlooked Biases in Contingent Valuation Surveys: Some Considerations , 1987 .

[4]  J. Vaske,et al.  Mail versus Telephone Surveys: Potential Biases in Expenditure and Willingness-to-Pay Data , 1998 .

[5]  R. Berrens,et al.  Contingent valuation of rural tourism development with tests of scope and mode stability. , 1997 .

[6]  Alexander Basilevsky,et al.  Chapter 7 – Measurement: Theory and Techniques , 1983 .

[7]  Frederick Wiseman,et al.  METHODOLOGICAL BIAS IN PUBLIC OPINION SURVEYS , 1972 .

[8]  Jean M. Converse,et al.  THE EFFECTS OF BLACK AND WHITE INTERVIEWERS ON BLACK RESPONSES IN 1968 , 1971 .

[9]  Gregory L. Poe,et al.  A Comparison of Hypothetical Phone and Mail Contingent Valuation Responses for Green-Pricing Electricity Programs , 1997 .

[10]  Robert Cameron Mitchell,et al.  Using Surveys to Value Public Goods: The Contingent Valuation Method , 1989 .

[11]  N. Schwarz,et al.  Context Effects in Social and Psychological Research , 1992 .

[12]  J. R. Hochstim.  A Critical Comparison of Three Strategies of Collecting Data from Households , 1967 .

[13]  J. Whitehead,et al.  Sample Non-response Bias and Aggregate Benefits in Contingent Valuation: an Examination of Early, Late and Non-respondents , 1993 .

[14]  Bruce G. Terrell,et al.  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , 2020, Federal Regulatory Guide.

[15]  J. Loomis,et al.  Evaluation of Mail and In-person Contingent Value Surveys: Results of a Study of Recreational Boaters , 1991 .

[16]  Robert M. Groves,et al.  RESEARCH ON SURVEY DATA QUALITY , 1987 .

[17]  David A. Patterson,et al.  Inference and Optimal Design for a Welfare Measure in Dichotomous Choice Contingent Valuation , 1991 .

[18]  B. Campbell.  Race-of-Interviewer Effects Among Southern Adolescents , 1981 .

[19]  Trudy Ann Cameron,et al.  OLS versus ML estimation of non-market resource values with payment card interval data , 1989 .

[20]  Gregory L. Poe,et al.  Elicitation Effects in Contingent Valuation: Comparisons to a Multiple Bounded Discrete Choice Approach , 1998 .

[21]  Jeffrey E. Cohen,et al.  Race-of-Interviewer Effects in Telephone Interviews , 1982 .

[22]  D. Dillman.  Mail and telephone surveys : the total design method , 1979 .

[23]  Gregory L. Poe,et al.  Implementing the Convolutions Approach: A Companion to "Measuring the Difference (X-Y) of Simulated Distributions: A Convolutions Approach" , 1994 .

[24]  John B. Loomis,et al.  Comparison of Mail and Telephone-Mail Contingent Valuation Surveys , 1994 .

[25]  Don A. Dillman,et al.  Understanding differences in people's answers to telephone and mail surveys , 1996 .

[26]  Nick Hanley,et al.  Valuing rural recreation benefits: an empirical comparison of two approaches. , 1989 .

[27]  P. Abramson,et al.  THE EFFECTS OF THE RACE OF THE INTERVIEWER ON RACE-RELATED ATTITUDES OF BLACK RESPONDENTS IN SRC/CPS NATIONAL ELECTION STUDIES , 1988 .