U.S. surveys of minorities and immigrants allow respondents to answer in the language of their choice. Psychological and linguistic research suggests that the language of administration may influence responses through its impact on various cognitive processes and through the cultural frame that a language brings to the conversational context. However, the extent to which the language of survey administration affects survey responding is currently unknown. The objectives of this project are to examine the extent to which language of administration influences bilingual bicultural respondents' answers to survey questions and to investigate which types of questions are most susceptible to language effects. These objectives will be addressed through secondary analyses of observational data and an experiment. Secondary analyses of the New Immigrant Survey will compare differences in responses among those interviewed in English and those interviewed in Spanish and identify the types of questions for which these differences are particularly pronounced. The lack of random assignment to a language will be overcome by using propensity score methods. In addition, an experimental web survey of about 300 adult Arab-American immigrants from the Detroit area, randomly assigned to an English or Arabic version of the questionnaire, will be launched. The experiment will include questions with varying degrees of sensitivity and social desirability across the American and Arab cultures to assess if the language of administration affects conformity with cultural norms. It also will include autobiographical questions to assess differences in recall as a function of the match between the language spoken at the time of the initial encoding and the language at the time of recall.
This project brings basic psychological and linguistic research to bear on surveys of bilingual bicultural respondents, for whom the language of survey administration may evoke different cultural frames. It will illuminate how the language of survey administration affects respondents' answers and will highlight the methodological implications for surveys of immigrant populations. The broader societal impact of this work derives from the relevance of collecting accurate data from immigrants. If language affects socially desirable responding and the accuracy of autobiographical recall, the choice of language may be an important factor in collecting accurate data for policy decisions. At present, little is known about these possibilities, despite the considerable resources invested in surveys of immigrant populations. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.
