Matthew Debell
Biographic Data
| ID | 276505 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matthew Debell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matthew |
| FAMILY NAME | Debell |
| SIGNATURE | DEBELL M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stanford University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1126-1586 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 83 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Why are surveys struggling to estimate vote shares
Polling in the 2020 US presidential elections significantly underestimated Trump support, calling into question the accuracy of all political surveys. Although many have speculated that this bias is due to Trump supporters refusing to respond to surveys, we have previously lacked the data to directly evaluate this theory. This paper leverages the rich and unique set of data collected alongside the 2020 American National Election Studies (ANES) to…
Validating the “Genuine Pipeline” to Limit Social Desirability Bias in Survey Estimates of Voter Turnout
It is well documented that survey overreporting of voter turnout due to social desirability bias threatens inference about political behavior. This paper reports four studies that contained question wording experiments to test questions designed to minimize that bias using a “pipeline” approach. The “pipeline” informs survey participants that researchers can perform vote validation to verify turnout self-reports. This approach reduced self-report…
Retracted Article: High replicability of newly discovered social-behavioural findings is achievable
Failures to replicate evidence of new discoveries have forced scientists to ask whether this unreliability is due to suboptimal implementation of methods or whether presumptively optimal methods are not, in fact, optimal. This paper reports an investigation by four coordinated laboratories of the prospective replicability of 16 novel experimental findings using rigour-enhancing practices: confirmatory tests, large sample sizes, preregistration an…
A randomized experiment evaluating survey mode effects for video interviewing
Rising costs and challenges of in-person interviewing have prompted major surveys to consider moving online and conducting live web-based video interviews. In this paper, we evaluate video mode effects using a two-wave experimental design in which respondents were randomized to either an interviewer-administered video or interviewer-administered in-person survey wave after completing a self-administered online survey wave. This design permits tes…
Measuring Political Knowledge and Not Search Proficiency in Online Surveys
Most online survey questions testing political knowledge are susceptible to measurement error when participants look up the answers. This article reports five studies of methods to detect and prevent this common source of error. To detect lookups, “catch questions” are more reliable than self-reports, because many participants lie rather than admit looking up answers. Strongly worded instructions reduced lookups by about two-thirds, while the tri…
The Turnout Gap in Surveys: Explanations and Solutions
Postelection surveys regularly overestimate voter turnout by 10 points or more. This article provides the first comprehensive documentation of the turnout gap in three major ongoing surveys (the General Social Survey, Current Population Survey, and American National Election Studies), evaluates explanations for it, interprets its significance, and suggests means to continue evaluating and improving survey measurements of turnout. Accuracy was gre…
Polarized Opinions on Racial Progress and Inequality: Measurement and Application to Affirmative Action Preferences
This study presents new measures of opinion about progress toward racial equality and provides a multifaceted rationale for preferring the new measures to the old ones. To reduce several sources of measurement error and improve analytic bite by breaking progress into its constituent elements, surveys should ask about past, present, and ideal conditions, not “progress.” These questions reveal racially polarized opinions: Black and White Americans …
Harder Than It Looks: Coding Political Knowledge on the Anes
Political knowledge research faces a problem, perhaps even a crisis. For two decades, the American National Election Studies asked open-ended questions about political knowledge and coded answers using procedures that are neither reliable nor replicable and that were never shown to be optimally valid. Consequently, conclusions based on these widely used measures of the public's competence are in doubt. This article presents several new and overdu…
Children Living Without Their Fathers: Population Estimates and Indicators of Educational Well-being
Sources of Civic Orientation Among American Youth: Trust, Religiious Valuation, and Attributions of Responsibility
This study identified affective and cognitive factors predicting American 6th, 8th, and 10th graders’ civic orientation, defined here as feelings of effective community service, conceptualizations of citizenship, and participation in student government. Independent variables included measures of interpersonal trust, valuation of religion, and individualistic versus collective action attributions of responsibility for solving social problems. Inte…
In Focus … Census 2000
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Sources of Civic Orientation Among American Youth: Trust, Religiious Valuation, and Attributions of Responsibility
This study identified affective and cognitive factors predicting American 6th, 8th, and 10th graders’ civic orientation, defined here as feelings of effective community service, conceptualizations of citizenship, and participation in student government. Independent variables included measures of interpersonal trust, valuation of religion, and individualistic versus collective action attributions of responsibility for solving social problems. Inte…
Harder Than It Looks: Coding Political Knowledge on the Anes
Political knowledge research faces a problem, perhaps even a crisis. For two decades, the American National Election Studies asked open-ended questions about political knowledge and coded answers using procedures that are neither reliable nor replicable and that were never shown to be optimally valid. Consequently, conclusions based on these widely used measures of the public's competence are in doubt. This article presents several new and overdu…
Children Living Without Their Fathers: Population Estimates and Indicators of Educational Well-being
The Turnout Gap in Surveys: Explanations and Solutions
Postelection surveys regularly overestimate voter turnout by 10 points or more. This article provides the first comprehensive documentation of the turnout gap in three major ongoing surveys (the General Social Survey, Current Population Survey, and American National Election Studies), evaluates explanations for it, interprets its significance, and suggests means to continue evaluating and improving survey measurements of turnout. Accuracy was gre…
Polarized Opinions on Racial Progress and Inequality: Measurement and Application to Affirmative Action Preferences
This study presents new measures of opinion about progress toward racial equality and provides a multifaceted rationale for preferring the new measures to the old ones. To reduce several sources of measurement error and improve analytic bite by breaking progress into its constituent elements, surveys should ask about past, present, and ideal conditions, not “progress.” These questions reveal racially polarized opinions: Black and White Americans …
Validating the “Genuine Pipeline” to Limit Social Desirability Bias in Survey Estimates of Voter Turnout
It is well documented that survey overreporting of voter turnout due to social desirability bias threatens inference about political behavior. This paper reports four studies that contained question wording experiments to test questions designed to minimize that bias using a “pipeline” approach. The “pipeline” informs survey participants that researchers can perform vote validation to verify turnout self-reports. This approach reduced self-report…
A randomized experiment evaluating survey mode effects for video interviewing
Rising costs and challenges of in-person interviewing have prompted major surveys to consider moving online and conducting live web-based video interviews. In this paper, we evaluate video mode effects using a two-wave experimental design in which respondents were randomized to either an interviewer-administered video or interviewer-administered in-person survey wave after completing a self-administered online survey wave. This design permits tes…
Retracted Article: High replicability of newly discovered social-behavioural findings is achievable
Failures to replicate evidence of new discoveries have forced scientists to ask whether this unreliability is due to suboptimal implementation of methods or whether presumptively optimal methods are not, in fact, optimal. This paper reports an investigation by four coordinated laboratories of the prospective replicability of 16 novel experimental findings using rigour-enhancing practices: confirmatory tests, large sample sizes, preregistration an…
Measuring Political Knowledge and Not Search Proficiency in Online Surveys
Most online survey questions testing political knowledge are susceptible to measurement error when participants look up the answers. This article reports five studies of methods to detect and prevent this common source of error. To detect lookups, “catch questions” are more reliable than self-reports, because many participants lie rather than admit looking up answers. Strongly worded instructions reduced lookups by about two-thirds, while the tri…
In Focus … Census 2000
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Sources of Civic Orientation Among American Youth: Trust, Religiious Valuation, and Attributions of Responsibility
This study identified affective and cognitive factors predicting American 6th, 8th, and 10th graders’ civic orientation, defined here as feelings of effective community service, conceptualizations of citizenship, and participation in student government. Independent variables included measures of interpersonal trust, valuation of religion, and individualistic versus collective action attributions of responsibility for solving social problems. Inte…
Children Living Without Their Fathers: Population Estimates and Indicators of Educational Well-being
Harder Than It Looks: Coding Political Knowledge on the Anes
Political knowledge research faces a problem, perhaps even a crisis. For two decades, the American National Election Studies asked open-ended questions about political knowledge and coded answers using procedures that are neither reliable nor replicable and that were never shown to be optimally valid. Consequently, conclusions based on these widely used measures of the public's competence are in doubt. This article presents several new and overdu…
Polarized Opinions on Racial Progress and Inequality: Measurement and Application to Affirmative Action Preferences
This study presents new measures of opinion about progress toward racial equality and provides a multifaceted rationale for preferring the new measures to the old ones. To reduce several sources of measurement error and improve analytic bite by breaking progress into its constituent elements, surveys should ask about past, present, and ideal conditions, not “progress.” These questions reveal racially polarized opinions: Black and White Americans …
The Turnout Gap in Surveys: Explanations and Solutions
Postelection surveys regularly overestimate voter turnout by 10 points or more. This article provides the first comprehensive documentation of the turnout gap in three major ongoing surveys (the General Social Survey, Current Population Survey, and American National Election Studies), evaluates explanations for it, interprets its significance, and suggests means to continue evaluating and improving survey measurements of turnout. Accuracy was gre…
Measuring Political Knowledge and Not Search Proficiency in Online Surveys
Most online survey questions testing political knowledge are susceptible to measurement error when participants look up the answers. This article reports five studies of methods to detect and prevent this common source of error. To detect lookups, “catch questions” are more reliable than self-reports, because many participants lie rather than admit looking up answers. Strongly worded instructions reduced lookups by about two-thirds, while the tri…
Retracted Article: High replicability of newly discovered social-behavioural findings is achievable
Failures to replicate evidence of new discoveries have forced scientists to ask whether this unreliability is due to suboptimal implementation of methods or whether presumptively optimal methods are not, in fact, optimal. This paper reports an investigation by four coordinated laboratories of the prospective replicability of 16 novel experimental findings using rigour-enhancing practices: confirmatory tests, large sample sizes, preregistration an…
A randomized experiment evaluating survey mode effects for video interviewing
Rising costs and challenges of in-person interviewing have prompted major surveys to consider moving online and conducting live web-based video interviews. In this paper, we evaluate video mode effects using a two-wave experimental design in which respondents were randomized to either an interviewer-administered video or interviewer-administered in-person survey wave after completing a self-administered online survey wave. This design permits tes…
Validating the “Genuine Pipeline” to Limit Social Desirability Bias in Survey Estimates of Voter Turnout
It is well documented that survey overreporting of voter turnout due to social desirability bias threatens inference about political behavior. This paper reports four studies that contained question wording experiments to test questions designed to minimize that bias using a “pipeline” approach. The “pipeline” informs survey participants that researchers can perform vote validation to verify turnout self-reports. This approach reduced self-report…
Why are surveys struggling to estimate vote shares
Polling in the 2020 US presidential elections significantly underestimated Trump support, calling into question the accuracy of all political surveys. Although many have speculated that this bias is due to Trump supporters refusing to respond to surveys, we have previously lacked the data to directly evaluate this theory. This paper leverages the rich and unique set of data collected alongside the 2020 American National Election Studies (ANES) to…
Psychology (9 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Survey Methodology and Nonresponse (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Mathematics (4 works)