Educated Guesses: The Process of Answering Factual Knowledge Questions in Surveys

Responses to autobiographical questions are known to represent more than simply retrieval of information from memory; inference, cuing, and “availability” all play a role. Using responses to items in four different surveys, we find that respondent motivation and ability, together with contextual cues, help determine how survey respondents answer knowledge questions about the world around us. Thus, we extend the domain of factual items for which the role of inferential processes is recognized, and we specify more precisely the kinds of factors that respondents use in answering such questions. We also find suggestive evidence that attitudes influence answers to information questions, thus extending as well the kinds of factors seen as likely to affect reports about facts.