Cross-Cultural Analysis of Response Bias - An Investigation of Psychological Likert-Scale Items in a Standardized International Travel Survey

In travel behaviour research, an increasing number of travel surveys include attitudinal questions to determine the effects of the psychological dimension. In the case of international studies, the focus is on the comparability of the data collected and the results. Especially when attitudinal questions are used, a potential difference in the response behaviour of people from different cultures must be considered. Using the data from a standardized travel survey conducted in Shanghai (China), Berlin (Germany) and San Francisco (USA), we analyse, detect and compare different variations of response bias. We aim to investigate whether the given response behaviour results from different response strategies and whether there are cross-cultural differences. In the survey, an item set with 38 statements is used to question the respondents’ attitudes towards different means of transport. A 5-point Likert-scale is applied within a grid structure. This allows the participants to easily answer the questions. However, this also allows rapid answers without reading the single statements, which leads to poor data quality. There are several types of questionable response behaviour, e.g., Straightlining, where each item is assigned the same response category as the previous one. ... mehrTo identify response bias in our data, we use different classifications of Straightlining, which vary in the extent of non-differentiation and the complexity of calculation. In addition to visual biases, we also examine content-related aspects such as the tendency to agree or to disagree with all statements. An ordered logit regression identifies factors that influence the response behaviour. The analyses indicate that people from Shanghai and San Francisco show an increased tendency for response bias. We also detect the highest level of central tendency (choosing the middle category) among people from Shanghai. Overall, the results show differences between the response behaviour of people from different cultures and therefore underline the importance of such cross-cultural comparisons.