The Nature of Missing Data

In psychological research, refusal to answer questions shows up in what’s called “missing data.” An investigator sends a 40-item questionnaire to an online sample, and, although most people reach 100 percent participation, a stubborn minority provides incomplete data. Why didn’t they want to answ...

It's the former situation, in which questions tap into some underlying set of worries or concerns of participants, that may be most like what happens in real-life settings. If some insight could be gained from how researchers can work around this problem to your own experiences, this ...

earning from the missing-data problem in research might help you understand the rationale behind the evasive people in your life. Perhaps there are better ways to ask questions of certain people than the direct request for information.

Sometimes the questions you ask of another person have a more urgent quality. You’re trying to plan a weekend getaway with friends and want to know when is the best time to leave. Although most of your friends quickly offer up their availability, there’s one holdout who makes it impos...

You bump into someone you don’t know that well while you’re standing in a long checkout line. Mildly interested in the state of their well-being, you offer a seemingly innocent query, asking, “What’s new?” It’s been several months since you’ve seen this person, so it seems like someth...

• When you ask a question, ordinary rules of conversation dictate that you should get an answer.
• People who refuse to comply with this set of conventions are like the “missing data” in research, as shown in a new study.
• By understanding what causes missing data, you can bette...

Not answering questions isn’t limited, then, to interpersonal situations. In psychological research, investigators may not gather all the information they need because participants find the questions too personal and anxiety ...