Reducing Inattentive Responding by Promoting Autonomous Motivation

In some cases, as much as 9% of participants in self-report studies are extremely
inattentive (Maniaci & Rogge, 2014). Previous researchers have dealt with this problem
by removing inattentive participants from data analyses. A better solution would be to
prevent inattentive responding. Self-Determination Theory may provide an effective
approach to reducing inattentive responding, specifically by attempting to promote
autonomous motivation in research participants. Providing participants with personalized
feedback may increase participants’ autonomous motivation, which in turn may lead to
more attentive responding. Study 1 showed that participants who are interested in
feedback are more attentive throughout an online survey than participants who are not
interested in feedback. The next goal was to show through experimental manipulation
that emphasizing the opportunity to receive personalized feedback would decrease levels
of inattentive responding and increase autonomous motivation. No significant difference
occurred between groups in levels of inattention, nor in autonomous motivation.