Modeling response granularity with mixture models: A case of severity ratings in child maltreatment

Heaping, where responses are concentrated in round numbers, such as 5 or 10, is one of the response behaviors observed in surveys. The heaping phenomenon in subjective quantities may be explained by response granularity, which expresses the uncertainty of subjective quantities. We conducted an explo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behaviormetrika 2021-07, Vol.48 (2), p.393-405
Main Authors: Furukawa, Yui, Hojo, Daiki, Sakamoto, Jiro, Takaoka, Kota
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Child abuse & neglect
Computer Science
Designers
Economics
Feedback
Finance
Insurance
Management
Mathematics and Statistics
Normal distribution
Physics
Polls & surveys
R&D
Ratings & rankings
Research & development
Risk assessment
Short Note
Statistical Theory and Methods
Statistics
Statistics for Business
Statistics for Engineering
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Summary:Heaping, where responses are concentrated in round numbers, such as 5 or 10, is one of the response behaviors observed in surveys. The heaping phenomenon in subjective quantities may be explained by response granularity, which expresses the uncertainty of subjective quantities. We conducted an exploratory study using mixture models with a response granularity assumption, and used the severity ratings of child maltreatment measured by slider scales with numerical feedback as a case of heaped subjective quantity (14,401 records from 487 respondents). The results of the model comparison showed that it was reasonable to assume a response granularity for severity ratings. We classified the respondents into five groups based on the uncertainty of response granularity because individual differences were observed. This study proposes the usefulness of an approach that utilizes mixture models to examine individual response granularity.
ISSN:0385-7417
1349-6964
DOI:10.1007/s41237-021-00139-7