Table 1.

Types of response styles and impact on the data collected

	Definition	Examplea	Impact on data collected
Acquiescence response style	Tendency to agree or disagree with items to indicate positive connotation	○○○○●●●	Assuming higher response categories indicate positivity, inflates observed means and increases magnitude of multivariate relationships
Disacquiescence response style	Tendency to agree or disagree with items to indicate negative connotation	●●●○○○○	Assuming lower response categories indicate positivity, deflates observed means and increases magnitude of multivariate relationships
Midpoint response style	Tendency to use the middle response category of a scale	○○○●○○○	Brings observed means closer to midpoint, deflates variance, increases magnitude of multivariate relationships
Extreme response style	Tendency to use the highest and lowest response categories of a scale	●○○○○○●	Inflates observed mean variance, decreases magnitude of multivariate relationships
Mild response style	Tendency to avoid the highest and lowest response categories of a scale	○●●●●●○	Brings observed means closer to midpoint, deflates variance, increases magnitude of multivariate relationships
Net acquiescence response style	Tendency to show greater acquiescence than disacquiescence		Inflates variance, deflates observed means if negative
Response range	Tendency to use a narrow or wide range of response categories around the mean		When large, inflates variance, decreases magnitude of multivariate relationships
Noncontingent responding	Tendency to respond to items carelessly, randomly, or nonpurposefully		No a priori hypotheses about the effect can be specified

Notes: ^aExamples based on 7-point Likert scale. Adapted from Van Vaerenbergh Y, Thomas TD. Response styles in survey research: a literature review of antecedents, consequences, and remedies. Int J Public Opin Res. 2013;25(2):195–217, by permission of Oxford University.17