Mitigating central tendency and acquiescence biases in survey design: a methodological exploration with empirical evidence

Abstract

This paper presents a survey design methodology aimed at mitigating central tendency and acquiescence biases, which are commonly encountered in traditional Likert-scale surveys. The proposed approach employs a forced ranking method, using a case study involving 220 engineering students at the University of Zagreb as a source of data to assess whether respondents exhibit patterns of systematically avoiding honest answers for any reason. Statistical analysis demonstrates the effectiveness of the design in reducing these biases. The results provide strong evidence that the method developed in this article can minimize response distortions without sacrificing data richness. While the primary focus is on the methodological aspects, the case study illustrates the potential of this approach for ethical and attitudinal research. The study concludes with recommendations for refining survey techniques and exploring their broader applicability in different populations and contexts.