Experimental Analysis of Attitudes: The Factorial-Survey Approach

Abstract

A reading of the studies having been published by important sociological and criminological journals reveals a clear picture: for a variable to be considered dependent in a randomized experimental study (at least for those accepted and published by these journals), it has to be behavioral. The question asked in this article is, may only behavioral measures constitute dependent variables in highly qualified experimental studies? The answer is a distinct "no", and attitudinal measures are also proposed as possible and legitimate dependent variables in randomized experimental studies. Here the factorial-survey approach, a relatively new survey technique, which combines the benefits of controlled, randomized experimental designs and conventional surveys, is suggested as a characteristic experimental technique in such studies. This article concludes that the factorial-survey approach may be considered an appropriate experimental technique in social science research-it produces findings that less developed methods are not able to examine.

Predicting support for community corrections: Crime type and severity, and offender, observer, and victim characteristics

“…Scenarios Sampling. This study adopts the factorial approach (see Herzog, 2017). Based on this approach, the chosen scenarios represent a random sample of scenarios from the population of all possible scenarios, based on the combination of all values of all research variables (see Steiner et al;Wallander, 2009).…”

“…Based on this approach, the chosen scenarios represent a random sample of scenarios from the population of all possible scenarios, based on the combination of all values of all research variables (see Steiner et al;Wallander, 2009). Thus, as a result of the random selection of values from the many factorial variables and the control of respondent personal characteristics (Rossi and Berk, 1997), we found unbiased estimations on the influence of each of the independent variables of the research on respondent judgments (Herzog, 2017).…”

“…First, the research on attitudes toward CC is limited, especially in Israel, and the current study intends to fill this gap. Secondly, we employ a factorial survey approach that combines controlled, randomized quasi-experimental designs with a representative sampling of a conventional survey (Herzog, 2003(Herzog, , 2017. This approach allows uncovering social and individual structures of human judgments about crimes and offenders.…”

Predicting Israeli Public Support for Capital Punishment: Crime Type and Severity, Offender, Observer, and Victim Characteristics

“…Research on attitudes toward capital punishment tends to focus on the American public. However, the similarities between the Israeli public and Western societies in attitudes toward offenders (Herzog, 2017;Levy & Kerschke-Risch, 2020) may reveal insights that are true for the Western world in general. We hypothesized that: H 1 : Crime severity predicts support of capital punishment: Crimes rated as more severe are more likely to be regarded as eligible for capital punishment.…”

“…Furthermore, this study employed a factorial survey design which allows for exploring the combined effects of crime type and severity as well as offender, victim, and observer characteristics. The factorial survey combines a controlled, randomized quasi-experimental design with a representative sampling of a conventional survey (Herzog, 2003;Herzog, 2017). The complexity of the research design and the manipulation of multiple factors reduce social desirability effects on the participant's judgments (Wallander, 2009).…”