5 items
Items that detect inattentive or careless responding. Insert one or two into a longer battery — not more, and not in every beep of an ESM protocol, where they irritate participants and become their own source of dropout.
Usage
Instructed-response items are scored pass/fail against the instructed option. Bogus items are scored against the implausible direction. Pre-register your exclusion rule before collecting data — deciding afterwards which failures to exclude is a researcher degree of freedom.
Citation
Meade, A. W., & Craig, S. B. (2012). Identifying careless responses in survey data. Psychological Methods, 17(3), 437–455.
doi:10.1037/a0028085License: Free to use and adapt.
Instructed response
To show that you are paying attention, please select 'Slightly agree' for this item.
1–7 · "Strongly disagree" → "Strongly agree"
Please select the option 'Rarely' for this question.
Never · Rarely · Sometimes · Often · Always
Bogus item
I have never used a computer or a smartphone.
1–7 · "Strongly disagree" → "Strongly agree"
I am currently asleep while answering this survey.
1–7 · "Strongly disagree" → "Strongly agree"
Comprehension check
What is two plus three? Please type your answer as a number.
0–100
Use this module in your own ESM/EMA study — drop it into a survey within SMAAT.