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The Influence of Social Desirability Pressures on Expressed Immigration Attitudes

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  • Alexander L. Janus

Abstract

Objective. Immigration scholars have found that the highly educated and political liberals are considerably less likely to support restrictionist immigration policies than other groups. I ask whether the influence of social desirability pressures in the survey interview is responsible for this finding. Methods. An unobtrusive questioning technique known as the list experiment is used to measure Americans' support for immigration restrictionism. The list experiment can easily be embedded in a standard telephone survey and has been used by previous investigators to study racial attitudes. Results. Restrictionist sentiments are found to be more widespread among the U.S. populace than previous studies have estimated, especially among college graduates and political liberals. Conclusion. My findings have implications for immigration scholars and social scientists who study other sensitive attitudes and behaviors. The most commonly employed strategies to reduce socially desirable responding may not be enough.

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  • Alexander L. Janus, 2010. "The Influence of Social Desirability Pressures on Expressed Immigration Attitudes," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(4), pages 928-946, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:91:y:2010:i:4:p:928-946
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00742.x
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    Cited by:

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    6. Amaral, Ernesto F. L. & Mitchell, Paige & Marquez-Velarde, Guadalupe, 2019. "Factors associated with attitudes toward U.S. immigration, 2004–2016," OSF Preprints nkry6, Center for Open Science.
    7. Carroll, Eamonn & Timmons, Shane & McGinnity, Frances, 2023. "Experimental tests of public support for disability policy," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS159, June.
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    11. McGinnity, Frances & Creighton, Mathew & Fahey, Éamonn, 2020. "Hidden versus revealed attitudes: a list experiment on support for minorities in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT372, June.
    12. David McKenzie & Melissa Siegel, 2013. "Eliciting Illegal migration rates through list randomization," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1310, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    13. Alexandru Cernat & Daniel L. Oberski, 2022. "Estimating stochastic survey response errors using the multitrait‐multierror model," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(1), pages 134-155, January.
    14. Yin Liu & Guo-Liang Tian & Qin Wu & Man-Lai Tang, 2019. "Poisson–Poisson item count techniques for surveys with sensitive discrete quantitative data," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 60(5), pages 1763-1791, October.
    15. Fahey, Éamonn & O'Brien, Doireann & Russell, Helen & McGinnity, Fran, 2019. "European survey data on attitudes to equality groups and human rights," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number SUSTAT83, June.
    16. Chadi, Adrian, 2015. "Concerns about the Euro and happiness in Germany during times of crisis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PA), pages 126-146.
    17. De Cao, Elisabetta & Lutz, Clemens, 2014. "Sensitive survey questions," Research Report 14017-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
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    19. Brownback, Andy & Novotny, Aaron, 2018. "Social desirability bias and polling errors in the 2016 presidential election," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 38-56.
    20. Ahmad, Syedah & Lensink, Robert & Mueller, Annika, 2023. "Religion, social desirability bias and financial inclusion: Evidence from a list experiment on Islamic (micro-)finance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    21. Robert Stojanov & Ilan Kelman & AKM Ahsan Ullah & Barbora Duží & David Procházka & Klára Kavanová Blahůtová, 2016. "Local Expert Perceptions of Migration as a Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-15, November.
    22. S. Rinken & S. Pasadas-del-Amo & M. Rueda & B. Cobo, 2021. "No magic bullet: estimating anti-immigrant sentiment and social desirability bias with the item-count technique," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(6), pages 2139-2159, December.
    23. Bloemraad, Irene & Voss, Kim & Silva, Fabiana, 2014. "Framing the Immigrant Movement as about Rights, Family, or Economics: Which Appeals Resonate and for Whom?," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt3b32w33p, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.

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