Self-reports -: How the questions shape the answers

Self-reports of behaviors and attitudes are strongly influenced by features of the research instrument, including question wording, format and context. Recent research has addressed the underlying cognitive and communicative processes, which are systematic and increasingly well-understood. I review what has been learned focusing on issues of question comprehension, behavioral frequency reports, and the emergence of context effects in attitude measurement. The accumulating knowledge about the processes underlying self-reports promises to improve questionnaire design and data quality.