- The Oxford Handbook of Polling and Survey Methods
- Contributors
- Introduction to Polling and Survey Methods
- Total Survey Error
- Longitudinal Surveys: Issues and Opportunities
- Mixing Survey Modes and Its Implications
- Taking the Study of Political Behavior Online
- Sampling for Studying Context: Traditional Surveys and New Directions
- Questionnaire Science
- Exit Polling Today and What the Future May Hold
- Sampling Hard-to-Locate Populations: Lessons from Sampling Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
- Reaching Beyond Low-Hanging Fruit: Surveying Low-Incidence Populations
- Improving the Quality of Survey Data Using CAPI Systems in Developing Countries
- Survey Research in the Arab World
- The Language-Opinion Connection
- Issues in Polling Methodologies: Inference and Uncertainty
- Causal Inference with Complex Survey Designs: Generating Population Estimates Using Survey Weights
- Aggregating Survey Data to Estimate Subnational Public Opinion
- Latent Constructs in Public Opinion
- Measuring Group Consciousness: Actions Speak Louder Than Words
- Cross-National Surveys and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems: When Country/Elections Become Cases
- Graphical Visualization of Polling Results
- Graphical Displays for Public Opinion Research
- Survey Experiments: Managing the Methodological Costs and Benefits
- Using Qualitative Methods in a Quantitative Survey Research Agenda
- Integration of Contextual Data: Opportunities and Challenges
- Measuring Public Opinion with Social Media Data
- Expert Surveys as a Measurement Tool: Challenges and New Frontiers
- The Rise of Poll Aggregation and Election Forecasting
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter critically reflects on the deceptively simple relationship between language and survey response: the language-opinion connection. It discusses what survey researchers actually know about this link, paying close attention to challenges involving conceptualization, measurement, and research design. Throughout, the discussion emphasizes a core theme: despite great advancements in sampling, measurement, and research design, the study of language and survey response is bereft of strong theory. Thus, while the language-opinion connection seems on the surface easy to assess, public opinion researchers have modest theory to explain how, when, and among whom language influences survey response. Against this backdrop, the chapter outlines several ways forward, stressing in particular the importance of identifying and testing psychological mechanisms.
Keywords: language, survey response, conceptualization, measurement, psychological mechanisms
Efrén O. Pérez is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University, and a Co-Director of its Research on Individuals, Politics, & Society (RIPS) experimental lab. His research encompasses political psychology and public opinion, with an emphasis on racial and ethnic politics.
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- The Oxford Handbook of Polling and Survey Methods
- Contributors
- Introduction to Polling and Survey Methods
- Total Survey Error
- Longitudinal Surveys: Issues and Opportunities
- Mixing Survey Modes and Its Implications
- Taking the Study of Political Behavior Online
- Sampling for Studying Context: Traditional Surveys and New Directions
- Questionnaire Science
- Exit Polling Today and What the Future May Hold
- Sampling Hard-to-Locate Populations: Lessons from Sampling Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
- Reaching Beyond Low-Hanging Fruit: Surveying Low-Incidence Populations
- Improving the Quality of Survey Data Using CAPI Systems in Developing Countries
- Survey Research in the Arab World
- The Language-Opinion Connection
- Issues in Polling Methodologies: Inference and Uncertainty
- Causal Inference with Complex Survey Designs: Generating Population Estimates Using Survey Weights
- Aggregating Survey Data to Estimate Subnational Public Opinion
- Latent Constructs in Public Opinion
- Measuring Group Consciousness: Actions Speak Louder Than Words
- Cross-National Surveys and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems: When Country/Elections Become Cases
- Graphical Visualization of Polling Results
- Graphical Displays for Public Opinion Research
- Survey Experiments: Managing the Methodological Costs and Benefits
- Using Qualitative Methods in a Quantitative Survey Research Agenda
- Integration of Contextual Data: Opportunities and Challenges
- Measuring Public Opinion with Social Media Data
- Expert Surveys as a Measurement Tool: Challenges and New Frontiers
- The Rise of Poll Aggregation and Election Forecasting
- Index
