Questionnaire item response times and claiming impossible knowledge: An analysis using the overclaiming technique
Abstract
When gathering educational data via questionnaire, it is important that researchers obtain accurate data. However, accuracy of student self-reports is a long-term issue in the literature, as these data could be subject to various biases and inaccuracies.
The overclaiming technique (OCT) has been proposed as an approach to identify accuracy and exaggeration in respondents' self-reports of knowledge based on their familiarity ratings with existing and nonexisting items. Further, analysis of individuals' response times to the whole survey or its parts is one of the approaches for identification of careless or insufficient effort (C/IE) responding.
It has been hypothesized that C/IE responding and overclaiming might be related and that claiming impossible knowledge might be a result of the shallow, hasty and inadequate processing of information, however, empirical support for this link is scarce. In this contribution, we analyze the relationship between OCT response patterns in relation to response time on a sample of 1,388 Czech lower secondary students in the domain of English as a foreign language.
Our findings indicate both a marked decrease in claiming of nonexisting items and exaggeration, and an increase in accuracy, between students in the first and the second response time decile.