The Effects of Information and Predisposition on Individual Responses to Hypothetical Survey Questions

• Main Author: Wang, Ching-Hsing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: CAPORCI 2015-02-01
• Series: Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
• Subjects: information; political sophistication; predisposition; hypothetical questions; EITM
• Online Access: http://ajpor.org/browse/articleDetail.do?article_a_no=ORJSBL_2015_v2n2_71&kojic=ORJSBL&year=2015&vnc=v2n2

This study investigates the effects of information and predisposition on individual responses to hypothetical questions. By employing the empirical implications of theoretical models (EITM) framework, I confirm that information and predisposition have positive effects on individual substantive responses to the hypothetical questions about the independence-unification issue in Taiwan. Respondents with higher levels of information and predisposition are more likely to provide substantive responses. More importantly, information and predisposition exert a negative interaction effect on individual responses to hypothetical questions, which implies that when an individual counts more on information to respond to hypothetical questions, her predisposition plays a less important role in her responses and vice versa. Finally, this study suggests that hypothetical questions are effective to probe individual opinion on specific issues under hypothetical conditions.