Question-order Effects in the Domains of Language and Marriage

The effect of question-order on respondents’ choices is well-studied and well established, but these effects are not always present and are sometimes contradictory. The question of whether prior involvement in an issue alters the question-order effect also exists. We examined the effect of question-order, or context, on the stated values of participants by exploiting the saliency effect through the use of framing questions. Although our results showed some influence of question order, we encountered a ceiling effect. Our ceiling may have been caused by the same factor observed by Rimal and Real (2005): high-involvement mitigates question-order effect. Nevertheless, for those interested in educational campaigns, studying how context influences an individual’s values and preferences is a subject worthy of further pursuit.