Editing Response bias (section)

===Acquiescence bias===
{{Main|Acquiescence bias}}
Acquiescence bias, which is also referred to as "yea-saying", is a category of response bias in which respondents to a [[Sample survey|survey]] have a tendency to agree with all the questions in a [[Psychological testing|measure]].<ref name="Watson">{{cite journal|doi=10.1177/0049124192021001003|title=Correcting for Acquiescent Response Bias in the Absence of a Balanced Scale: An Application to Class Consciousness|journal=Sociological Methods & Research|volume=21|pages=52–88|year=1992|last1=Watson|first1=D.|s2cid=122977362}}</ref><ref name="Psychlopedia">[https://web.archive.org/web/20091015050748/http://www.psych-it.com.au/Psychlopedia/article.asp?id=154 Moss, Simon. (2008).  Acquiescence bias]</ref> This bias in responding may represent a form of dishonest reporting because the participant automatically endorses any statements, even if the result is contradictory responses.<ref name="Knowles 1997">{{cite journal|doi=10.1006/jrpe.1997.2180|title=Acquiescent Responding in Self-Reports: Cognitive Style or Social Concern?|journal=Journal of Research in Personality|volume=31|issue=2|pages=293–301|year=1997|last1=Knowles|first1=Eric S.|last2=Nathan|first2=Kobi T.}}</ref><ref name="Meisenberg 2008">{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.paid.2008.01.010|title=Are acquiescent and extreme response styles related to low intelligence and education?|journal=Personality and Individual Differences|volume=44|issue=7|pages=1539–1550|year=2008|last1=Meisenberg|first1=Gerhard|last2=Williams|first2=Amandy}}</ref> For example, a [[Research participant|participant]] could be asked whether they endorse the following statement, "I prefer to spend time with others" but then later on in the survey also endorses "I prefer to spend time alone," which are contradictory statements. This is a distinct problem for self-report research because it does not allow a researcher to understand or gather accurate data from any type of question that asks for a participant to endorse or reject statements.<ref name="Knowles 1997"/> Researchers have approached this issue by thinking about the bias in two different ways. The first deals with the idea that participants are trying to be agreeable, in order to avoid the disapproval of the researcher.<ref name="Knowles 1997"/> A second cause for this type of bias was proposed by [[Lee Cronbach]], when he argued that it is likely due to a problem in the [[Cognition|cognitive processes]] of the participant, instead of the motivation to please the researcher.<ref name="Cronbach"/> He argues that it may be due to biases in memory where an individual recalls information that supports endorsement of the statement, and ignores contradicting information.<ref name="Cronbach"/>

Researchers have several methods to try and reduce this form of bias. Primarily, they attempt to make balanced response sets in a given measure, meaning that there are a balanced number of positively and negatively worded questions.<ref name="Knowles 1997"/><ref name="Podsakoff 2003">{{cite journal|doi=10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879|pmid=14516251|title=Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies|journal=Journal of Applied Psychology|volume=88|issue=5|pages=879–903|year=2003|last1=Podsakoff|first1=Philip M.|last2=MacKenzie|first2=Scott B.|last3=Lee|first3=Jeong-Yeon|last4=Podsakoff|first4=Nathan P.|hdl=2027.42/147112|s2cid=5281538|hdl-access=free}}</ref> This means that if a researcher was hoping to examine a certain trait with a given questionnaire, half of the questions would have a "yes" response to identify the trait, and the other half would have a "no" response to identify the trait.<ref name="Podsakoff 2003"/>

Nay-saying is the opposite form of this bias. It occurs when a participant always chooses to deny or not endorse any statements in a survey or measure. This has a similar effect of invalidating any kinds of endorsements that participants may make over the course of the experiment.