Forced answering (FA) is a frequent answer format in online surveys that forces respondents to answer each question in order to proceed through the questionnaire. The underlying rationale is to decrease the amount of missing data. Despite its popularity, empirical research on the impact of FA on respondents’ answering behavior is scarce and has generated mixed findings. In fact, some quasi-experimental studies showed that FA has detrimental consequences such as increased survey dropout rates and faking behavior. Notably, a theoretical psychological process driving these effects has hitherto not been identified. Therefore, the aim of the present study was twofold: First, we sought to experimentally replicate detrimental effects of FA on online questionnaire data quality. Second, we tried to uncover an explanatory psychological mechanism. Specifically, we hypothesized that FA effects are mediated through reactance. Zero-order effects showed that FA increased state reactance and questionnaire dropout as well as reduced answer length in open-ended questions. Results of survival and mediation analyses corroborate negative FA effects on data quality and the proposed psychological process.

(1) Background: Job quality is a multidimensional and elusive concept that is back in vogue among social scientists and policymaker. The current study proposes a new job quality approach that is compared with the European Working Conditions Survey framework and structured with the help of the Job Demands-Resources model. Two new measures of job quality, the Quality of Work Index (QoW) and the Quality of Employment Index (QoE) are developed and validated in three different languages (German, French, Luxembourgish). The QoW is composed of 43 items, focusing on four areas of work—work intensity, job design, social conditions, and physical conditions (subdivided in eleven components)—which are particularly important for employees’ well-being. The QoE is composed of 13 items that cover training opportunities, career advancement, job security, employability, work life conflict, and income satisfaction. (2) Methods: Data were collected via computer-assisted telephone interviews in a representative sample of 1522 employees working in Luxembourg (aged 17–67 years; 57.2% male). (3) Results: Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the proposed factors structure and scalar measurement invariance for the three different language versions. Internal consistencies were satisfactory for all subscales (Cronbach’s α between 0.70 and 0.87). Correlations and hierarchical regression analyses with different psychological health measures (i.e., burnout, general well-being, psychosomatic complaints, work satisfaction, vigor) and subjective work performance confirmed the construct validity of the new instruments. (4) Conclusions: The QoW and the QoE are globally and on the level of the sub-categories effective tools to measure job quality, which could be used to compare job quality between organizations and different countries. Furthermore, the current study confirms associations between the different components of the QoW and QoE and employees’ health.

Online surveys have become a popular method for data gathering for many reasons, including low costs and the ability to collect data rapidly. However, online data collection is often conducted without adequate attention to implementation details. One example is the frequent use of the forced answering option, which forces the respondent to answer each question in order to proceed through the questionnaire. The avoidance of missing data is often the idea behind the use of the forced answering option. However, we suggest that the costs of a reactance effect in terms of quality reduction and unit nonresponse may be high because respondents typically have plausible reasons for not answering questions. The objective of the study reported in this paper was to test the influence of forced answering on dropout rates and data quality. The results show that requiring participants answer every question increases dropout rates and decreases quality of answers. Our findings suggest that the desire for a complete data set has to be balanced against the consequences of reduced data quality.

Background: The Symptom Checklist (SCL) developed by the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study is a non-clinical measure of psychosomatic complaints (e.g., headache and feeling low) that has been used in numerous studies. Several studies have investigated the psychometric characteristics of this scale; however, some psychometric properties remain unclear, among them especially a) dimensionality, b) adequacy of the Graded Response Model (GRM), and c) measurement invariance across countries. Methods: Data from 229,906 adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 from 46 countries that participated in the 2018 HBSC survey were analyzed. Adolescents were selected using representative sampling and surveyed by questionnaire in the classroom. Dimensionality was investigated using exploratory graph analysis. In addition, we investigated whether the GRM provided an adequate description of the data. Reliability over the latent variable continuum and differential test functioning across countries were also examined. Results: Exploratory graph analyses showed that SCL can be considered as one-dimensional in 16 countries. However, a comparison of the unidimensional with a post-hoc bifactor GRM showed that deviation from a hypothesized one-dimensional structure was negligible in most countries. Multigroup invariance analyses supported configural and metric invariance, but not scalar invariance across 32 countries. Alignment analysis showed non-invariance especially for the items irritability, feeling nervous/bad temper and feeling low. Conclusion: HBSC-SCL appears to represent a consistent and reliable unidimensional instrument across most countries. This bodes well for population health analyses that rely on this scale as an early indicator of mental health status.

The five-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) is among the most frequently used brief standard measures to assess hedonic well-being. Numerous studies have investigated different facets of its psychometric properties in adult populations. However, whether these results apply to adolescents is uncertain, and only few psychometric studies employed adolescent populations. Thus, the current study aimed to conduct an in-depth psychometric item response theory analysis of the WHO-5 among adolescents from 43 countries using the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2022 data set and investigated its (a) dimensionality and measurement structure, (b) test information values and marginal reliability, (c) cross-country measurement invariance and differential item/test functioning, and (d) convergent validity with other measures related to mental health and well-being across countries. The WHO-5 showed a unidimensional measurement structure and overall high test information values and marginal reliability. Furthermore, although a large proportion of parameters were flagged as non-invariant, differential test functioning of the WHO-5 was only modest. Moreover, the WHO-5 mainly showed a concurring nomological network with the other measures related to mental health and well-being across countries, although with some differences in effect sizes. The WHO-5 Well-Being Index is a psychometrically sound measure that has shown promise for cross-cultural research among adolescents in the included European, Central Asia, and North American countries. The translated versions of the WHO-5 are available at https://osf.io/pbexq.