Replication Data for: "Do Survey Questions Spread Conspiracy Beliefs?" (doi:10.7910/DVN/GCKQYW)

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Part 1: Document Description
Part 2: Study Description
Part 3: Data Files Description
Part 4: Variable Description
Part 5: Other Study-Related Materials
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Document Description

Citation

Title:

Replication Data for: "Do Survey Questions Spread Conspiracy Beliefs?"

Identification Number:

doi:10.7910/DVN/GCKQYW

Distributor:

Harvard Dataverse

Date of Distribution:

2023-01-12

Version:

1

Bibliographic Citation:

Clifford, Scott; Brian Sullivan, 2023, "Replication Data for: "Do Survey Questions Spread Conspiracy Beliefs?"", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/GCKQYW, Harvard Dataverse, V1, UNF:6:HEGuvvy4hEpUC2zh0pnYqg== [fileUNF]

Study Description

Citation

Title:

Replication Data for: "Do Survey Questions Spread Conspiracy Beliefs?"

Identification Number:

doi:10.7910/DVN/GCKQYW

Authoring Entity:

Clifford, Scott (University of Houston)

Brian Sullivan (University of Houston)

Distributor:

Harvard Dataverse

Access Authority:

Clifford, Scott

Depositor:

Clifford, Scott

Date of Deposit:

2022-11-21

Holdings Information:

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/GCKQYW

Study Scope

Keywords:

Social Sciences

Abstract:

Conspiracy theories and misinformation have become increasingly prominent in politics, and these beliefs have pernicious effects on political behavior. A prominent line of research suggests that these beliefs are promoted by repeated exposure. Yet, as scholars have rushed to understand these beliefs, they have exposed countless respondents to conspiratorial claims, raising the question of whether researchers are contributing to their spread. We investigate this possibility using a pre-registered within-subjects experiment embedded in a panel survey. The results suggest that exposure to a standard conspiracy question causes a significant increase in the likelihood of endorsing that conspiracy a week later. However, this exposure effect does not occur with a question format that offers an alternative, non-conspiratorial explanation for the target event. Thus, we recommend that researchers reduce the likelihood of spreading conspiracy beliefs by adopting a question format that asks respondents to choose between alternative explanations for an event.

Methodology and Processing

Sources Statement

Data Access

Other Study Description Materials

File Description--f6717691

File: repl_data.tab

  • Number of cases: 23688

  • No. of variables per record: 17

  • Type of File: text/tab-separated-values

Notes:

UNF:6:HEGuvvy4hEpUC2zh0pnYqg==

Variable Description

List of Variables:
  • ID
  • outcome - Conspiracy Outcome Question
  • ideo - ideo
  • age - age
  • educ - educ
  • purecontrol - Assigned to Pure Control Arm?
  • male - RECODE of sex (sex)
  • PID
  • ECcond - Question Format
  • ConspPre - Conspiratorial Predisposition
  • ct - Conspiracy Belief - Endorse
  • dk - Conspiracy Belief - Unsure
  • rj - Conspiracy Belief - Reject
  • white
  • Dem
  • treat3 - Assigned to High Exposure?
  • treat1 - Assigned to Low Exposure?

Variables

ID

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Valid 23688.0; Min. 1.0; Mean 658.5; StDev 379.90438645307455; Max. 1316.0

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:pBGeZE3E1PP9mrk4f8AZoQ==

Conspiracy Outcome Question

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Min. 1.0; Valid 23688.0; Max. 18.0; StDev 5.188236985172482; Mean 9.5;

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:TzMLbvTMzzX2Llm7OVvB5g==

ideo

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Max. 7.0; StDev 1.8000989025368164; Valid 23598.0; Min. 1.0; Mean 3.4050343249427937;

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:8KHkDoHDgIAka/rx9x/8sQ==

age

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Max. 9.0; Min. 1.0; Mean 4.205069124423958; Valid 23436.0; StDev 1.3662461171607947

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:aNCG73k/4FNxEkvgptktVg==

educ

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Valid 23418.0; Min. 1.0; Mean 4.408916218293621; Max. 7.0; StDev 1.307623118745992;

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:aREEl/3VIs/3rdl35YQmXg==

Assigned to Pure Control Arm?

f6717691 Location:

Value

Label

Frequency

Text

1.

Yes

5850

0.

No

17838

Summary Statistics: StDev 0.43125265877677066; Mean 0.24696048632219147; Min. 0.0; Valid 23688.0; Max. 1.0;

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:PLZR5iQ8Q0psLcu3RjglGQ==

RECODE of sex (sex)

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Valid 23274.0; StDev 0.49948992806233516; Min. 0.0; Max. 1.0; Mean 0.522815158546014;

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:G4b4kNfmp1fJUjU7Z89oBQ==

PID

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Valid 23688.0; Min. 1.0; Mean 3.2066869300911858; Max. 7.0; StDev 2.146255144418721

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:UypkJT6MK8YtcDT+LjUV1Q==

Question Format

f6717691 Location:

Value

Label

Frequency

Text

0.

Agree-Disagree

12222

1.

Explicit Choice

11466

Summary Statistics: Mean 0.4840425531914854; Valid 23688.0; Max. 1.0; Min. 0.0; StDev 0.4997558438414977

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:DFJ5ytKvIQCQQOpGAvYNFQ==

Conspiratorial Predisposition

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Mean 2.639102072141212; Max. 5.0; Valid 23454.0; Min. 1.0; StDev 1.155810329595323

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:fA5RKWqnw4ziWr+Rd3Yirw==

Conspiracy Belief - Endorse

f6717691 Location:

Value

Label

Frequency

Text

0.

Reject or Unsure

9787

1.

Endorse

2869

Summary Statistics: Max. 1.0; Mean 0.22669089759797775; Min. 0.0; StDev 0.4187075195708883; Valid 12656.0;

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:63IxdUdLKMTW8SZwADsggA==

Conspiracy Belief - Unsure

f6717691 Location:

Value

Label

Frequency

Text

1.

Unsure

2493

0.

Endorse or Reject

10163

Summary Statistics: Max. 1.0; Min. 0.0; Valid 12656.0; Mean 0.19698166877370368; StDev 0.39773406987533505

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:wiPKEcZD8p4WXTCnhSe88A==

Conspiracy Belief - Reject

f6717691 Location:

Value

Label

Frequency

Text

1.

Reject

7294

0.

Endorse or Unsure

5362

Summary Statistics: StDev 0.49415930381971185; Max. 1.0; Mean 0.5763274336283185; Min. 0.0; Valid 12656.0

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:fGPc9r0Mz4vftiMg3ugUiw==

white

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Valid 23418.0; Min. 0.0; Mean 0.7455803228285927; StDev 0.4355438044304859; Max. 1.0

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:7arHJZ6yDx7VUZRrPqR/Fg==

Dem

f6717691 Location:

Summary Statistics: Valid 23688.0; Max. 1.0; StDev 0.4741175124536786; Mean 0.6588145896656529; Min. 0.0

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:aV1/1X4yfj+oRUpet39Jlg==

Assigned to High Exposure?

f6717691 Location:

Value

Label

Frequency

Text

0.

No

19728

1.

Yes

3960

Summary Statistics: StDev 0.37313835739006007; Max. 1.0; Mean 0.1671732522796353; Min. 0.0; Valid 23688.0

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:ypJ0HpF4OiSK5FqWbcSm9w==

Assigned to Low Exposure?

f6717691 Location:

Value

Label

Frequency

Text

1.

Yes

3960

0.

No

19728

Summary Statistics: StDev 0.37313835739006007; Min. 0.0; Mean 0.1671732522796353; Valid 23688.0; Max. 1.0

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:6:6BENfHAAbNFQgRU0WeUuAg==

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

Question wording.docx

Text:

Question wording and formatting for surveys.

Notes:

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

README.docx

Text:

Instructions for using replication files.

Notes:

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

repl_analysis.do

Text:

Code to reproduce results.

Notes:

application/x-stata-syntax

Other Study-Related Materials

Label:

repl_log.smcl

Text:

Log file.

Notes:

application/x-stata-smcl