Social Desirability Responding on World Wide Web and Paper-Administered Surveys.

Social desirability responding (SDR) on surveys administered on the World Wide Web and on paper was examined, with 178 graduate and undergraduate students as participants. To assess the extent to which participants would demonstrate SDR, this study used the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) (Paulhus, 1993). The BIDR consists of 40 items states as propositions. Respondents rate their agreement with each statement on a seven-point scale. Using a true experimental design, the study examined the impact of two independent variables, the participants' identifiability level (anonymous and non-anonymous) and the survey's administration mode (World Wide Web-administered and paper-administered), on one dependent variable, the participants' social desirability response levels measured by the BIDR. Findings reveal no differences in SDR between the Web and the paper-administered survey conditions, and no differences in SDR between the anonymous and non-anonymous conditions. These findings and potential explanations are examined for consideration by anyone interested in using the Web to obtain accurate information from survey participants. (Contains 35 references.) (AEF)