Questionnaire Design Effects in Climate Change Surveys
Implications for the Partisan Divide
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5741564 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jonathon P Schuldt (0000-0002-0885-0160), Sungjong Roh (0000-0001-6751-2826), Norbert Schwarz (0000-0002-8868-7067) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 658 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 67-85 |
| Publication date | 2015-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0002716214555066 |
| OpenAlex | W2098788635 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 42 |
| References cited | 38 |
Despite strong agreement among scientists, public opinion surveys reveal wide partisan disagreement on climate issues in the United States. We suggest that this divide may be exaggerated by questionnaire design variables. Following a brief literature review, we report on a national survey experiment involving U.S. Democrats and Republicans ( n = 2,041) (fielded August 25-September 5, 2012) that examined the effects of question wording and order on the belief that climate change exists, perceptions of scientific consensus, and support for limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Wording a questionnaire in terms of "global warming" (versus "climate change") reduced Republicans' (but not Democrats') existence beliefs and weakened perceptions of the scientific consensus for both groups. Moreover, "global warming" reduced Republicans' support for limiting greenhouse gases when this question immediately followed personal existence beliefs but not when the scientific consensus question intervened. We highlight the importance of attending to questionnaire design in the analysis of partisan differences
Climate change · Economics · Global warming · Greenhouse gas · Limiting · Order (exchange) · Perception · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Scientific consensus · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Ecology · Engineering · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Law · Psychology · Risk Perception and Management
Tracking Public Beliefs About Anthropogenic Climate Change
Psychological Barriers to Bipartisan Public Support for Climate Policy
The gateway belief model
Public opinion on energy development
Changing Connotations and the Evolution of the Effect of Wording
Does “climate change” equal “global warming”? A corpus-based study of lexical choices related to climate change in three UK newspapers from 2018 to 2025
Climate change awareness of gen z
“It’s Global Warming, Stupid”
Who asked you? A systematic review exploring the origin of primary research into attitudes to marine protected areas in Australia
Can Education Save Us From Ourselves? Three Psychological Challenges to Democracy
A Simple Intervention to Reduce Framing Effects in Perceptions of Global Climate Change
Exposure to Scientific Consensus Does Not Cause Psychological Reactance
Bringing the Heat Home
Don’t Talk Climate Like This
Stronger than partisanship and motivated reasoning
Climate change denial, political beliefs, and cities
Climate Change Disinformation on Social Media
The impact of elite frames and motivated reasoning on beliefs in a global warming conspiracy
What shapes perceptions of climate change? New research since 2010
Do partisanship and politicization undermine the impact of a scientific consensus message about climate change
Survey instructions bias perceptions of environmental health risks
Exploring the Influence of Aggressive and Target-Framing Messages on Proenvironmental Behaviors
Public views on economic growth, the environment and prosperity
Challenges in Assessing Public Opinion on Economic Growth Versus Environment
Partisan strength and the politicization of global climate change
Communicating Climate Change
Effects of survey response mode, purported topic, and incentives on response rates in human dimensions of fisheries and wildlife research
The evidence for motivated reasoning in climate change preference formation
Measuring worries about climate change
La science du climat au prisme de la culture
Messages promoting genetic modification of crops in the context of climate change
Covid‐19 and Motivated Reasoning
Assessing Sociodemographic Predictors of Climate Change Concern, 1994–2016
Economic evaluations and partisan faultfinding
The Honest Broker versus the Epistocrat
Real, but Limited
The Determinants and Consequences of Accurate Beliefs About Childhood Vaccinations
Citizens', Scientists', and Policy Advisors' Beliefs about Global Warming
Technology Optimism or Pessimism about Genomic Science
Studying Science Inequities
Understanding Evangelical Protestant Identity, Religiosity, Extreme Weather, and American Public Perceptions of Global Warming, 2006-2016
The varying effects of left-right ideology on support for the environment
A Widening Gap
Mental Construal and the Emergence of Assimilation and Contrast Effects
Do Messages about Health Risks Threaten the Self? Increasing the Acceptance of Threatening Health Messages Via Self-Affirmation
Psychological Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
Strategic Framing of Climate Change by Industry Actors
Talking Past Each Other? Cultural Framing of Skeptical and Convinced Logics in the Climate Change Debate
Assessing climate change beliefs
Support for climate policy and societal action are linked to perceptions about scientific agreement
The pivotal role of perceived scientific consensus in acceptance of science
Why it Matters How We Frame the Environment
What's in a name? Commonalities and differences in public understanding of “climate change” and “global warming”
Cross‐National Comparisons of Image Associations with “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” Among Laypeople in the United States of America and Great Britain1
Balance as bias
Deference to Scientific Authority Among a Low Information Public
The effects of gender on climate change knowledge and concern in the American public
Adapting to and coping with the threat and impacts of climate change
Communicating Climate Change
Effects of Question Order on Survey Responses
Global warming" or "climate change
The Polls Trends
The Implications of Framing Effects for Citizen Competence
Climate Change Politics
Climate on Cable
Self-reports
Framing Theory
Framing
Cognitive processes underlying context effects in attitude measurement
The Politicization of Climate Change and Polarization in the American Public's Views of Global Warming, 2001-2010
| Unique citing works | 42 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,82 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 42 |