Education Moderates Some Response Effects in Attitude Measurement

On the basis of over 130 survey-based experiments, Schuman and Presser concluded that respondents' levels of edu cational attainment did not seem to be a pervasive and systematic moderator of susceptibility to response effects. Via a meta analysis of these same data, we found that lower education was indeed associated with greater strength of seven response effects: response order effects, acquiescence, middle alternative effects not involving status quo options, no-opinion filter effects, forbid/ allow effects, balance effects, and question order effects based on the norm of reciprocity. The specific patterns of relations ob tained are consistent with the notion that some of these response effects may result from satisficing.