Response Styles in Marketing Research : a Means And Covariance Structures Comparison of Modes of Data-Collection

Based on two data sets, we compare levels of response styles across three modes of data-collection: paper and pencil questionnaires, online questionnaires, and telephone interviews. Using Means And Covariance Structures (MACS), we find that data collected by different modes show differences in response styles levels. More specifically, telephone data show lower levels of midpoint responding. We propose a method to alleviate response style bias in cross-mode comparisons.