Optimal Design of Anchoring Vignettes

Jack Buckley (Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, NYU), has recently produced some findings on survey context effects in the use of anchoring vignettes. Using data from a randomized survey experiment Buckley investigates whether analyses based on anchoring vignettes may be vulnerable to the introduction of "survey artifacts" due to vignette ordering or the placement of the self-assessment item relative to the vignettes. He finds several patterns of bias due to context effects, and recommends that researchers using anchoring vignettes should consider randomization or other methods to mitigate these problems. Read more about these findings here.

Prior to his role at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Professor Buckley was the Deputy Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, the Federal statistical agency responsible for collecting data in all areas of education in the U.S. Prior to joining NCES, he worked to improve statistical methodology in the federal intelligence community.