Hypothetical survey questions can validly test political choice theories when respondents answer honestly

Evidence

The use of hypothetical problems raises obvious questions regarding the generality and the applicability of the finding. Nevertheless, we believe that the use of carefully worded questions can address key issues regarding people’s values and beliefs so long as respondents take the questions seriously and have no particular reason to disguise or misrepresent their true preferences. Under these conditions hypothetical questions can be used to compare alternative theories of political choice that cannot be readily tested using available survey and voting data. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2409

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Students and Politics camouflaged its political questions to avoid social-desirability bias — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2334