Explaining response latencies and changing answers using client-side paradata from a web survey
Web surveys allow the registration of numerous paradata, which describe how respondents fill in web questionnaires. This study introduces client-side paradata into the field of web surveys, which provide a more detailed description of the process than server-side paradata commonly used in web surveys. In the article, the author presents the software needed to enable web surveys to collect client-side paradata and demonstrates its practical relevance by replicating a study by Bassili and Fletcher on response latencies and attitude stability. The study successfully replicates the findings from the Bassili and Fletcher study and shows that respondents with less stable attitudes need more time to respond to an attitudinal question. Moreover, this study also reports findings on response latencies to knowledge questions and investigates the meaning of changing answers to knowledge and opinion questions.
response latency paradata web surveys survey methodology response behavior