An individual’s opinion on ethical issues can be altered by the manner in which information is presented to him. In addition to the subject matter contained in the information, the implicit tone and wordings used in the text can have a significant impact on the opinion of the reader. In a similar manner, the phrasing of the questions asked can also alter a person’s response to a certain ethical issue. Schwarz (1999) observed that the validity of the survey data depends partly on how questions are worded. This phenomenon was illustrated in a study conducted by the Gallup Organization (1998) in which the responses of the people regarding the popularity of President Clinton after his affair with a White House intern were obtained. When the survey was conducted in order to question people about their opinion on President Clinton exclusively, 40% voted in his favor (a 20% drop from previous polls). However, the very next day, when the same query was made regarding several prominent personalities including President Clinton, 55% of the respondents were in support of President Clinton. The manner in which the question was presented to the people caused a variation in the results of the two surveys. The objective of this experiment is to explore how the framing of survey questions influences responses. The survey will study whether the opinions of people regarding the practice of abortion vary with respect to the way the question inquiring their view on that issue is phrased. In this study, two groups of people will be asked a question to learn of their stance on abortion. One group will respond to a question that poses abortion as a meaningful solution to compelling circumstances. The other group will be given a question that portrays the practice of abortion as a social evil. It is hypothesized that the framing of the question influences people’s responses. Therefore, more people will favor abortion ...
