IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17931.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Anchoring Effects in the Elicitation of Multidimensional Beliefs: Evidence from a Representative Survey Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Lergetporer, Philipp

    (Technical University of Munich)

  • Rittmannsberger, Thomas

    (Technical University of Munich)

  • Werner, Katharina

    (ifo Institute, University of Munich)

  • Zeidler, Helen

    (Technical University of Munich)

Abstract

We study anchoring effects in the elicitation of multidimensional beliefs within a single survey task using a representative sample of the German voting-age population. Respondents estimated government-spending levels across several domains (e.g., education, defense, social security), with randomized exposure to different informational anchors in one domain. Anchors significantly influence elicited beliefs in related domains and partially also shift respondents’ policy preferences. While the anchors change absolute estimates, perceived government-spending rankings remain stable. These findings offer methodological guidance for survey design involving multidimensional belief elicitation in information-provision experiments.

Suggested Citation

  • Lergetporer, Philipp & Rittmannsberger, Thomas & Werner, Katharina & Zeidler, Helen, 2025. "Anchoring Effects in the Elicitation of Multidimensional Beliefs: Evidence from a Representative Survey Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 17931, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17931
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17931.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    survey; beliefs; experiment; anchoring; government spending;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17931. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.