Deconstructing a Double-Barreled Alternative: Evolution and Creationism

The problem of assessing opinions through surveys with double-barreled items has long been recognized, but nonfield experiments that examine their construction have been limited. Opinions about evolution based on an international multidecade Gallup survey were examined through an experimental design in which answers to the Gallup alternatives, one of which was double-barreled, were compared to those obtained when the components were separated. Random assignment of the original and deconstructed versions to 302 university students resulted in relatively few students who received the deconstructed version providing a pattern of answers that replicated the original item. The Harris organization had previously examined the Gallup survey, but the problem of deconstructing a double-barreled alternative in combination with an experimentally controlled procedure had not been demonstrated. The discussion includes a distinction between complex and compound (double-barreled) survey items and briefly examines the difference between explicit and implicit double-barreled items.