Leftmost-digit-bias in an enumerated public sector? An experiment on citizens' judgment of performance information
Numerical performance information is increasingly important to political decision-making in the public sector. Some have suggested that biases in citizens' processing of numerical information can be exploited by politicians to skew citizens' perception of performance. I report on an experi...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2013-05-01
|
| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.sjdm.org/12/121112/jdm121112.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797716330987651072 |
|---|---|
| author | Asmus Leth Olsen |
| author_facet | Asmus Leth Olsen |
| author_sort | Asmus Leth Olsen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Numerical performance information is increasingly important to political decision-making in the public sector. Some have suggested that biases in citizens' processing of numerical information can be exploited by politicians to skew citizens' perception of performance. I report on an experiment on how citizens evaluate numerical performance information from a public school context. The experiment is conducted with a large and diverse sample of the Danish population (N=1156). The analysis shows a strong leftmost-digit-bias in citizens' evaluation of school grading information. Thus, very small changes in reported average grades, which happen to shift the leftmost grade digit, can lead to very large shifts in citizens' evaluation of performance. The rightmost digit on the grade is almost fully ignored. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:20:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9ccd6abb4ff742118c4d6bf787809dbf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:20:56Z |
| publishDate | 2013-05-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-9ccd6abb4ff742118c4d6bf787809dbf2023-09-02T18:32:50ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752013-05-0183365371Leftmost-digit-bias in an enumerated public sector? An experiment on citizens' judgment of performance informationAsmus Leth OlsenNumerical performance information is increasingly important to political decision-making in the public sector. Some have suggested that biases in citizens' processing of numerical information can be exploited by politicians to skew citizens' perception of performance. I report on an experiment on how citizens evaluate numerical performance information from a public school context. The experiment is conducted with a large and diverse sample of the Danish population (N=1156). The analysis shows a strong leftmost-digit-bias in citizens' evaluation of school grading information. Thus, very small changes in reported average grades, which happen to shift the leftmost grade digit, can lead to very large shifts in citizens' evaluation of performance. The rightmost digit on the grade is almost fully ignored.http://journal.sjdm.org/12/121112/jdm121112.pdfleftmost-digit-biascognitive biasesperformance information.NAKeywords |
| spellingShingle | Asmus Leth Olsen Leftmost-digit-bias in an enumerated public sector? An experiment on citizens' judgment of performance information Judgment and Decision Making leftmost-digit-bias cognitive biases performance information.NAKeywords |
| title | Leftmost-digit-bias in an enumerated public sector? An experiment on citizens' judgment of performance information |
| title_full | Leftmost-digit-bias in an enumerated public sector? An experiment on citizens' judgment of performance information |
| title_fullStr | Leftmost-digit-bias in an enumerated public sector? An experiment on citizens' judgment of performance information |
| title_full_unstemmed | Leftmost-digit-bias in an enumerated public sector? An experiment on citizens' judgment of performance information |
| title_short | Leftmost-digit-bias in an enumerated public sector? An experiment on citizens' judgment of performance information |
| title_sort | leftmost digit bias in an enumerated public sector an experiment on citizens judgment of performance information |
| topic | leftmost-digit-bias cognitive biases performance information.NAKeywords |
| url | http://journal.sjdm.org/12/121112/jdm121112.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT asmusletholsen leftmostdigitbiasinanenumeratedpublicsectoranexperimentoncitizensjudgmentofperformanceinformation |