scholarly journals Nothing but the truth? Effects of faking on the validity of the crosswise model

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0258603
Author(s):  
Adrian Hoffmann ◽  
Julia Meisters ◽  
Jochen Musch
Keyword(s):  
Road Traffic ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Direct Question ◽  
Questioning Techniques ◽  
Prevalence Estimates ◽  
Personal Attitudes ◽  
Fake Good ◽  
Crosswise Model ◽  
Sensitive Issues ◽  
Traffic Behavior

In self-reports, socially desirable responding threatens the validity of prevalence estimates for sensitive personal attitudes and behaviors. Indirect questioning techniques such as the crosswise model attempt to control for the influence of social desirability bias. The crosswise model has repeatedly been found to provide more valid prevalence estimates than direct questions. We investigated whether crosswise model estimates are also less susceptible to deliberate faking than direct questions. To this end, we investigated the effect of “fake good” instructions on responses to direct and crosswise model questions. In a sample of 1,946 university students, 12-month prevalence estimates for a sensitive road traffic behavior were higher and thus presumably more valid in the crosswise model than in a direct question. Moreover, “fake good” instructions severely impaired the validity of the direct questioning estimates, whereas the crosswise model estimates were unaffected by deliberate faking. Participants also reported higher levels of perceived confidentiality and a lower perceived ease of faking in the crosswise model compared to direct questions. Our results corroborate previous studies finding the crosswise model to be an effective tool for counteracting the detrimental effects of positive self-presentation in surveys on sensitive issues.

Plagiarism in Student Papers: Prevalence Estimates Using Special Techniques for Sensitive Questions

2011 ◽  
Vol 231 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabethen Coutts ◽  
Ben Jann ◽  
Ivar Krumpal ◽  
Anatol-Fiete Näher
Keyword(s):  
Potential Problem ◽  
Social Desirability Bias ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Randomized Response ◽  
Web Surveys ◽  
Questioning Techniques ◽  
Prevalence Estimates ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Crosswise Model ◽  
Sensitive Behavior

SummaryThis article evaluates three different questioning techniques for measuring the prevalence of plagiarism in student papers: the randomized response technique (RRT), the item count technique (ICT), and the crosswise model (CM). In three independent experimental surveys with Swiss and German university students as subjects (two web surveys and a survey using paper and- pencil questionnaires in a classroom setting), each of the three techniques is compared to direct questioning and evaluated based on the “more-is-better” assumption. According to our results the RRT and the ICT failed to reduce social desirability bias in self-reports of plagiarism. In contrast, the CM was more successful in eliciting a significantly higher rate of reported sensitive behavior than direct questioning. One reason for the success of the CM, we believe, is that it overcomes the “self-protective no” bias known from the RRT (and which may also be a potential problem in the ICT).We find rates of up to 22 percent of students who declared that they ever intentionally adopted a passage from someone else’s work without citing it. Severe plagiarism such as handing in someone else’s paper as one’s own, however, seems to be less frequent with rates of about 1 to 2 percent.

scholarly journals Controlling social desirability bias: An experimental investigation of the extended crosswise model

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0243384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Meisters ◽  
Adrian Hoffmann ◽  
Jochen Musch
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Investigation ◽  
Social Desirability ◽  
Personal Attributes ◽  
Direct Question ◽  
Questioning Techniques ◽  
Careless Responding ◽  
Sensitive Attribute ◽  
Systematic Response ◽  
Crosswise Model ◽  
Response Biases

Indirect questioning techniques such as the crosswise model aim to control for socially desirable responding in surveys on sensitive personal attributes. Recently, the extended crosswise model has been proposed as an improvement over the original crosswise model. It offers all of the advantages of the original crosswise model while also enabling the detection of systematic response biases. We applied the extended crosswise model to a new sensitive attribute, campus islamophobia, and present the first experimental investigation including an extended crosswise model, and a direct questioning control condition, respectively. In a paper-pencil questionnaire, we surveyed 1,361 German university students using either a direct question or the extended crosswise model. We found that the extended crosswise model provided a good model fit, indicating no systematic response bias and allowing for a pooling of the data of both groups of the extended crosswise model. Moreover, the extended crosswise model yielded significantly higher estimates of campus Islamophobia than a direct question. This result could either indicate that the extended crosswise model was successful in controlling for social desirability, or that response biases such as false positives or careless responding have inflated the estimate, which cannot be decided on the basis of the available data. Our findings highlight the importance of detecting response biases in surveys implementing indirect questioning techniques.

scholarly journals Uncovering a Blind Spot in Sensitive Question Research: False Positives Undermine the Crosswise-Model RRT

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Höglinger ◽  
Andreas Diekmann
Keyword(s):  
Validation Studies ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
False Positives ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Norm Violations ◽  
Sensitive Question ◽  
Prevalence Estimates ◽  
Data Validity ◽  
Crosswise Model ◽  
Sensitive Issues

Validly measuring sensitive issues such as norm violations or stigmatizing traits through self-reports in surveys is often problematic. Special techniques for sensitive questions like the Randomized Response Technique (RRT) and, among its variants, the recent crosswise model should generate more honest answers by providing full response privacy. Different types of validation studies have examined whether these techniques actually improve data validity, with varying results. Yet, most of these studies did not consider the possibility of false positives, i.e., that respondents are misclassified as having a sensitive trait even though they actually do not. Assuming that respondents only falsely deny but never falsely admit possessing a sensitive trait, higher prevalence estimates have typically been interpreted as more valid estimates. If false positives occur, however, conclusions drawn under this assumption might be misleading. We present a comparative validation design that is able to detect false positives without the need for an individual-level validation criterion — which is often unavailable. Results show that the most widely used crosswise-model implementation produced false positives to a nonignorable extent. This defect was not revealed by several previous validation studies that did not consider false positives — apparently a blind spot in past sensitive question research.

scholarly journals Sensitive attitudes and adherence to recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic: Comparing direct and indirect questioning techniques

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tabea Kaufmann ◽  
Lau Lilleholt ◽  
Robert Böhm ◽  
Ingo Zettler ◽  
Daniel W. Heck
Keyword(s):  
Representative Sample ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Questioning Techniques ◽  
Prevalence Estimates ◽  
Crosswise Model ◽  
Hexaco Model

During the COVID-19 pandemic, different behavioral measures were imposed to curb the spread of the virus. In a pre-registered study based on a quota-representative sample of adult Danish citizens (N = 1,031), we compared the prevalence estimates of self-reported handwashing, physical distancing, and attitudes towards the behavioral measures between people surveyed with a direct and an indirect questioning approach (i.e., the crosswise model). Moreover, we investigated two possible predictors for the sensitive attributes, namely (1) empathy for people vulnerable to the virus and (2) Honesty-Humility from the HEXACO Model of Personality. We also examined the interaction of both predictors with the questioning format. Results indicate that participants reported greater adherence to handwashing and physical distancing guidelines when asked directly rather than when asked indirectly. The overall attitudes regarding the behavioral measures did not differ between the questioning formats. Furthermore, empathy for people vulnerable to COVID-19 was negatively linked to nonadherence regarding handwashing and physical distancing, whereas Honesty-Humility was negatively linked to nonadherence regarding physical distancing.

scholarly journals Do they really wash their hands? Prevalence estimates for personal hygiene behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic based on indirect questions

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Mieth ◽  
Maike M. Mayer ◽  
Adrian Hoffmann ◽  
Axel Buchner ◽  
Raoul Bell
Keyword(s):  
Social Desirability ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Hand Washing ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Hygiene Practices ◽  
Hygiene Measures ◽  
Prevalence Estimates ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Crosswise Model

Abstract Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, billions of people have to change their behaviours to slow down the spreading of the virus. Protective measures include self-isolation, social (physical) distancing and compliance with personal hygiene rules, particularly regular and thorough hand washing. Prevalence estimates for the compliance with the COVID-19 measures are often based on direct self-reports. However, during a health crisis there is strong public pressure to comply with health and safety regulations so that people’s responding in direct self-reports may be seriously compromised by social desirability. Methods In an online survey, an indirect questioning technique was used to test whether the prevalence of hygiene practices may be lower than in conventional surveys when confidentiality of responding is guaranteed. The Extended Crosswise Model is an indirect questioning technique that guarantees the confidentiality of responding. To the degree that direct self-reports are biased by social desirability, prevalence estimates of hygiene practices such as thorough hand washing based on the Extended Crosswise Model should be lower than those based on direct self-reports. Results We analysed data of 1434 participants. In the direct questioning group 94.5% of the participants claimed to practice proper hand hygiene; in the indirect questioning group a significantly lower estimate of only 78.1% was observed. Conclusions These results indicate that estimates of the degree of commitment to measures designed to counter the spread of the disease may be significantly inflated by social desirability in direct self-reports. Indirect questioning techniques with higher levels of confidentiality seem helpful in obtaining more realistic estimates of the degree to which people follow the recommended personal hygiene measures. More realistic estimates of compliance can help to inform and to adjust public information campaigns on COVID-19 hygiene recommendations.

Heterogeneous traffic flow model under connected vehicles environment considering cyberattacks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizhen Lin ◽  
Hongxia Ge ◽  
Rongjun Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Flow ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Heterogeneous Traffic ◽  
Connected Vehicles ◽  
Vehicle To Vehicle ◽  
Car Following Model ◽  
Time Extension ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Traffic Behavior

Under the Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) environment, connected vehicles (CVs) can share the traveling information with each other to keep the traffic flow stable. However, the open network cooperation environment makes CVs vulnerable to cyberattacks, which leads to changes in driving behavior. The existing theories divide cyberattacks into three types: bogus information, replay/delay and collusion cyberattacks. In addition, the mixed flow consisting of truck and car is a common form of road traffic. In order to clarify the potential impact of cyberattacks on mixed traffic flow, this paper proposes an extended car-following model considering cyberattacks under CVs environment. Subsequently, the stability of the model is analyzed theoretically, and the stability condition of the model is obtained. The numerical simulation is carried out and the result shows that the cyberattacks lead to different degrees of traffic behavior hazards such as queue time extension, congestion and even rear end collision. Among them, cooperative attack is the most serious.

Positive Self-Presentation Effects and the Detection of Defensiveness on the NEO PI-R

Assessment ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott R. Ross ◽  
Steven E. Bailley ◽  
Scott R. Millis
Keyword(s):  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Multivariate Functions ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Neo Personality Inventory ◽  
Base Rates ◽  
Convergent And Discriminant Validity ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Fake Good

Recent investigations suggest that the five factors are highly susceptible to faking. Three studies are presented that address the effects of positive self-presentational set on the revised edition of the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R). Study 1 involves a within-subjects design ( N = 100) for the purposes of determining the effects of positive self-presentation on NEO PI-R domain and facet scales. Study 2 reports the development of two multivariate functions for the classification of fake-good protocols and provides results supporting the generalizability of these equations. Finally, Study 3 addresses the issue of specificity in a low base-rates sample ( N = 254) and lends further evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of these functions. These findings suggest that the NEO PI-R is clearly vulnerable to faking and support the contention that profiles derived under socially desirable conditions can be accurately identified.

scholarly journals A Strong Validation of the Crosswise Model Using Experimentally-Induced Cheating Behavior

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 403-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Hoffmann ◽  
Birk Diedenhofen ◽  
Bruno Verschuere ◽  
Jochen Musch
Keyword(s):  
Accurate Estimate ◽  
Personal Attribute ◽  
Sensitive Questions ◽  
Socially Desirable Responding ◽  
Cheating Behavior ◽  
Direct Question ◽  
Online Cheating ◽  
Crosswise Model ◽  
Experimentally Induced ◽  
Target Words

Abstract. We constructed an online cheating paradigm that could be used to validate the Crosswise Model ( Yu, Tian, & Tang, 2008 ), a promising indirect questioning technique designed to control for socially desirable responding on sensitive questions. Participants qualified for a reward only if they could identify the target words from three anagrams, one of which was virtually unsolvable as shown on a pretest. Of the 664 participants, 15.5% overreported their performance and were categorized as cheaters. When participants were asked to report whether they had cheated, a conventional direct question resulted in a substantial underestimate (5.1%) of the known prevalence of cheaters. Using a CWM question resulted in a more accurate estimate (13.0%). This result shows that the CWM can be used to control for socially desirable responding and provides estimates that are much closer to the known prevalence of a sensitive personal attribute than those obtained using a direct question.

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