The Devil Is in the Details: A Randomized Experiment Assessing the Effect of Providing Examples in a Survey Question across Countries

Despite the widespread use of examples in survey questions, very few studies have examined their impact on responses, and evidence is mainly based data collected United States using questionnaires English. This study builds previous research by examining effects providing from a cross-national probability-based web panel implemented Estonia ( n = 730), Great Britain 685), Slovenia 529) during Round 8 European Social Survey (2017/18). Respondents were randomly assigned question measuring confidence social media Facebook Twitter as examples, or another condition which no offered. The results show that was significantly lower example condition, although effect size small. Confidence varied across countries, heterogeneous countries education levels. implications these findings are discussed.