Even best-effort surveys cannot verify respondents’ truthfulness

Evidence

I do not know that the students have told me the truth. These are university students, not necessarily representative of everybody their age, much less everybody young and unmarried in Manitoba, much less everybody living in North America. But I do recommend the technique, if you want to broaden the data base I am about to present. If nothing else, it will help you get to know the members of your local ethical review committee a [ot better. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2213

Categorization

• CANDY: The closing joke — ‘it will help you get to know your local ethical review committee a lot better’ — is a light, tweetable quip about IRB friction.
• XREF: connects to: Empirical attitudinal surveys cannot reveal revolutionary prospects. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 230; Survey self-reports wildly overstate environmental organization membership — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 2057