Answer Categories
Decommission the emission right now [Das Emissionsrecht jetzt stilllegen]
Receive 5 EUR [5 EUR erhalten]
don’t know/not specified [weiß nicht/keine Angabe]
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Recommendations:
Question: Some test persons felt the need to read the explanations again while reading the question text, but only one test person went back to the introduction page to do so. Therefore, we recommend including a clearly visible information button on the question page that can be used to display the explanations.
In addition, we recommend formulating the question text in such a way that both the choice faced by the respondents and the significance of the individual answer options become clear. This could be done, for example, as follows:
“Today, we offer to purchase an emission right for you, which entitles you to emit one ton of CO2. The costs for the procurement of the emission right are borne by us as the client of the study. You can choose whether you want to decommission the emission right now or whether you want to receive 5 EUR instead.
If you decide to decommission the emission right right now, the industry will have to emit one ton of CO2 less from now on than before.
If you choose to receive 5 EUR, it will be credited to your account via [survey company].”
[„Wir bieten Ihnen heute an, für Sie ein Emissionsrecht, das zum Ausstoß einer Tonne CO2 berechtigt, zu kaufen. Die Kosten für die Beschaffung des Emissionsrechts tragen wir als Auftraggeber der Studie. Sie können wählen, ob Sie das Emissionsrecht jetzt stilllegen oder ob Sie stattdessen 5 EUR erhalten möchten.
Wenn Sie sich dafür entscheiden, das Emissionsrecht jetzt stillzulegen, muss die Industrie ab sofort eine Tonne CO2 weniger ausstoßen als vorher.
Wenn Sie sich dafür entscheiden, 5 EUR zu erhalten, werden Ihnen diese über [Umfrageunternehmen] auf Ihrem Konto gutgeschrieben.“]
Answer format: The answer choices should be explained in the question text or in an instruction below, as described above, to prevent confusion about the combination of answer options.
A good half of the respondents chose the answer "don't know/not specified" in the pretest, although this was for different reasons. In order to be able to distinguish between different triggers for refusing to answer in the survey, we recommend asking respondents who choose "don't know/not specified" a question. A combination of closed answer options and the open text field facilitates the evaluation of such a demand and offers respondents who would like to comment on the content of the topic or their decision the opportunity to do so.
This could look like this:
“You answered the previous question with ‘don't know/not specified’. Why did you choose this answer?
- I did not understand the question or the explanations about emission right
- I did not want to select any of the other answer choices
- I am not interested in the subject
- Other (Please explain in the text field below)
- [open text field]”
[Sie haben die vorangegangene Frage mit ‚weiß nicht/keine Angabe‘ beantwortet. Wieso haben Sie sich für diese Antwort entschieden?
- Ich habe die Frage bzw. die Erläuterungen zu Emissionsrecht nicht verstanden
- Ich wollte keine der anderen Antwortmöglichkeiten auswählen
- Ich interessiere mich nicht für das Thema
- Anderes (Bitte im untenstehenden Textfeld erläutern)
- [offenes Textfeld]“]
The list of reasons can be extended as needed.