Replication Data: Dealing With Inconclusive Findings in Survey Research

This dataset collection contains two consecutive web surveys examining whether translating survey questions into plain language (PL) improves comprehensibility and response quality compared to standard language (SL). Study I is an experimental web survey conducted with respondents from a German online access panel (N = 3,256). The aim of Study I is to examine whether translating survey questions from standard language (SL) into plain language (PL) improves the comprehensibility of survey questions and the response quality of respondents in web surveys. Study II is a complementary expert survey (N = 27) designed to evaluate the comprehensibility and comparability of the PL and SL survey questions used in Study I. Study II enables supplemental analyses to explore whether inconclusive findings of Study I can be explained by methodological factors such as the selection of participants, the choice of measures, or the design of the experimental stimuli. This dataset collection contains two consecutive web surveys examining whether translating survey questions into plain language (PL) improves comprehensibility and response quality compared to standard language (SL). Study I is an experimental web survey conducted with respondents from a German online access panel (N = 3,256). The aim of Study I is to examine whether translating survey questions from standard language (SL) into plain language (PL) improves the comprehensibility of survey questions and the response quality of respondents in web surveys. Study II is a complementary expert survey (N = 27) designed to evaluate the comprehensibility and comparability of the PL and SL survey questions used in Study I. Study II enables supplemental analyses to explore whether inconclusive findings of Study I can be explained by methodological factors such as the selection of participants, the choice of measures, or the design of the experimental stimuli.