@article{ref1,
title="Does it matter how you ask? The forbid-allow asymmetry in the measurement of attitudes towards drug policies",
journal="International journal on drug policy",
year="2015",
author="Rise, Jostein and Halkjelsvik, Torleif",
volume="26",
number="7",
pages="632-635",
abstract="BACKGROUND: It is important to know whether the public opinion on drug policies can be measured in a reliable and valid way. One of the threats to the validity of surveys on attitudes toward drug policies are wording effects, of which the most well-known is the forbid-allow asymmetry, i.e., people are often more willing to not allow something than to forbid it. The aim of the present study was to estimate the size of the allow-forbid asymmetry when measuring attitudes toward drug policy issues in the Norwegian adult population. <br><br>METHODS: The data derive from a sample of 2182 adult Norwegian, aged 18-70, drawn from a large online panel comprising more than 50,000 Norwegian citizens (55% response rate). According to a 2 (allow vs. forbid)×2 (question vs. statement) between-subjects design, participants indicated support for the following three restrictive drug policies: (i) to allow/forbid wine in grocery stores, (ii) to allow/forbid smoking in parks and other public places and (iii) to allow forbid cannabis for recreational purposes. <br><br>RESULTS: There was not a significant difference between the framing conditions (forbid-allow) across the three policies, with an estimated difference of 2 percentage points (95% confidence intervals 0-5). <br><br>CONCLUSION: The results suggest that survey research in the present context of drug policy is indeed more of a fact-finding enterprise than a process of constructing data.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0955-3959",
doi="10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.01.016",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.01.016"
}