Privacy of Response Scale

What it measures

Measures the degree to which a person believes that their responses to a survey or study will remain private and confidential rather than being shared with or made public to others in the research setting. The scale captures the perceived anonymity and non-disclosure of participant responses within a specific research context.

Scale items

• It is my impression that my responses will be shared with everyone else here today. (r)
• It is my understanding that my responses will be made public. (r)
• It is my impression that my responses will be kept anonymous and confidential.
• It is my understanding that my responses will not be shared with others in the room.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Developed by Green & Peloza (2014) and used in Studies 1 to 3. Conceptually based on White & Peloza's (2009) work on public versus private response contexts, where beliefs about public or private conditions were manipulated rather than measured. Here both manipulation and measurement were employed. Alphas were .94 (Study 1), .97 (Study 2), and .97 (Study 3). Validity not examined directly; predictive validity is inferred from the scale's successful tracking of public/private manipulations across studies. Items 1 and 2 are reverse-coded (r). Items 1 and 4 are phrased specifically for experimental contexts (reference to 'everyone else here today' and 'others in the room') and may require rephrasing for use in non-laboratory settings; each such rephrasing warrants re-checking the scale's psychometric quality before use in theory testing. Response anchors were not stated but are assumed to be standard Likert-type (strongly disagree / strongly agree).

Citation

Green, T., & Peloza, J. (2014). Finding the right shade of green: The effect of advertising appeal type on environmentally friendly consumption. Journal of Advertising, 43(2), 128-141.

Keywords