Leverage-Saliency Theory of Survey Participation: Description and an Illustration

• Published in: Public opinion quarterly Vol. 64; no. 3; pp. 299 - 308
• Main Authors: GROVES, ROBERT M., SINGER, ELEANOR, CORNING, AMY
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.10.2000; University of Chicago Press; Public Opinion Quarterly, Inc; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Civic duty; Communities; Cooperation; Data collection; Decision making; Design; Detroit, Michigan; Educational incentives; History, theory and methodology; Hypotheses; Incentives; Influence; Interviews; Methodological Problems; Methodology (Data Collection); Methods; Opinion polls; Participation; Polls & surveys; Public opinion; Public opinion research; Questionnaires; Research Design; Research Note; Research Responses; Research Subjects; Response rates; Salience; Saliency; School surveys; Sociology; Studies; Survey analysis; Survey data; Survey design; Surveys; Theory; Decision Making; Participation; Survey; Theoritical model
• ISSN: 0033-362X; 1537-5331
• DOI: 10.1086/317990

The purpose of this article is to go beyond the scope of the Groves-Couper model of survey participation by hypothesizing that individual differences among householders have a measurable effect on the validity of certain survey design features. Leverage-salience theory is utilized to speculate on the effectiveness of survey design features. The article also focuses on a particular test that was used to investigate the applicability of the leverage-salience theory. This test examines the effects of two factors -- perceived civic duty & cash incentives -- on survey participation. It is determined that when different respondents not only allocate differing leverages to a specific attribute, but also disagree on a survey's key dependent variables, serious nonresponse error will result. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 12 References. K. A. Larsen