Does Order Matter? The Impact of Methodological Decisions in Survey Research Concurrently Examining Attachment to Mothers and Fathers

Abstract

ABSTRACT While questionnaires are often validated in a context where participants respond to a questionnaire only once, it is common to complete a given questionnaire multiple times referring to different relationships in interpersonal relationship research. For instance, in attachment questionnaires, participants frequently respond to a given questionnaire for both their mother and father. Yet, it is unknown if the order in which these questionnaires are administered influences their validity. The present study explored this question by manipulating the administration condition of the questionnaires and the order in which participants reported on their relationship with each parent. A sample of 1046 undergraduate students (72.9% women) responded to online questionnaires on attachment and mental health. Results indicated that the experimental manipulations did not influence participants' engagement in insufficient effort responding, nor did they substantially impact internal consistency, observed scores, and questionnaires' factorial structure. Examining the correlation comparisons indicated that administering the mother and father versions of attachment questionnaires either side by side or completely sequentially might yield the most accurate correlations between parents and attachment questionnaires. Multigroup path analyses also suggest that administration condition and order of presentation influenced some associations between attachment dimensions and mental health symptoms, potentially impacting criterion validity.