Organizations know the importance of collecting periodic feedback from their employees to improve their overall success. However, while ascertaining feedback to measure the success of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, it is equally important to know about response bias and its impact.
While the survey questions go through multiple audit processes before being presented to the larger audience, non-conscious biases manifest throughout the process. The state of mind and the non-conscious bias influencing the survey designed and audited impact the survey responses.
Non-conscious bias at the workplace affects one another when employees partially make judgments influenced by race, looks, gender, etc. Factors including how questions are framed, the wording while rolling out the survey, fatigue, etc. lead to response bias. Some of the types of response bias and ways to avoid them are
Desirability bias: Wherein respondents even anonymously respond to ‘look good’ before their superiors. The employees may fear that although the survey responses are anonymous, their data may get tracked because of their IP address, employee ID, etc. Segments like unlawful behavior and financial information get misreported. The best way to avoid this bias is to be transparent about the survey collection process.
Question order bias: Like the sweetest sound any person can hear is their name, the most engaging part may often be questions about them. When the survey first asks about them and then talks about their superiors, the answers tend to incline positively. This bias tends to affect segments such as issues about their line managers and diversity policies. The best way to avoid this bias is to run a pilot test survey with different orders of the same set of questions.
Hostility bias: Questions about unpleasant memories can hugely contribute to the overall well-being of an organization, but these can affect the response. The respondents may feel attacked and may demonstrate shock or disinterest. The bias can be avoided by explaining how their responses will benefit the employees.
Non-inclusive language bias: Although the goal of any questionnaire is to get honest feedback, the wording used in the questionnaire can eliminate certain groups of people. Most organizations have addressed this bias. However, with different diversity strands gaining more recognition, organizations must look into the sensitivities of all the diversity strands while framing their questions.
Demand characteristics bias: In this bias, the subjects interpret or gauge the tone of the survey and will ensure that they give the ‘right’ answer instead of ‘their’ answer. The best way to avoid this bias is to avoid any communication related to appraisal, strategic discussions, etc., right before rolling out the survey.
Non-conscious bias and state of mind influence how a survey questionnaire gets designed. These impact the response through various forms of response bias. They can be tackled by becoming aware of the biases the survey questions might hold and addressing the non-conscious bias of the survey designer.
