College students reported zero coercion attempts in anonymous surveys

Evidence

Pentland and his crew continued to develop the sociometer and its applications, and by 2013 the device had been used by dozens of research groups and companies, including members of the Fortune 1000. A 2014 study, authored with Waber and colleagues from Harvard and Northeastern University, quantified gender differences in interaction patterns. The success of the analysis occasioned this announcement: “It is now possible to actively instrument human behavior to collect detailed data on various dimensions of social interaction.” The authors signaled their aim to employ MacKay’s cardinal rule of unobtrusive surveillance for effective monitoring of herds, flocks, and packs, acknowledging that the continuous pervasive collection of human behavioral data could succeed only when conducted outside the boundaries of human awareness, thus eliminating possible resistance, just as we saw at Facebook. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1352 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Degree of Anonymity. 1 first noted the effect of anonymity in a 1974 experiment (RWA, p. 244) that found students who served anonymously answered with less internal consistency than did those who put their names and booklet numbers on an attendance sheet for “administrative purposes.” The latter group in turn proved less consistent than students who put their names right on the booklets. These findings have been replicated several times (see RWA, p. 326). … If you suspect students care less, and become careless when they know their answers cannot be linked to them, I agree with you. But I have always been leery of the way internal consistency sparkles when subjects put their names directly on the materials; social desirability motivations and a wish to look consistent might be pumped up too much. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 866 (#complicates, via linked claim)

The reasons for this seem rather straightforward. One’s first psychology experiment may be fairly arousing (“Oh my God! What are they going to find out about me?”), especially if it catches you in your first month at university. Students may accordingly answer somewhat defensively, with a weather eye cocked toward social desirability. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 864 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Most non-virgin college women reported coerced or forced intercourse at least once — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2449; Survey respondents answer less consistently when anonymous than when identified — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 866; Anonymity rules out impression management but not self-deception in surveys. (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Behavioral data collection succeeded only when conducted without subjects’ awareness #complicates (0.73) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1352
• Survey respondents answer less consistently when anonymous than when identified #complicates (0.72) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 866
• Novelty of first-time survey participation raises arousal and defensive answering #complicates (0.71) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 864