Mother Tongue or Non-Native Language? – The Influence of Language on Response Behavior in Surveys

Today, an increasing number of surveys offer respondents the choice of which language they want to answer the questionnaire. In later data analysis, however, the language in which the respondent answers the questions is often ignored, and no distinction is made regarding whether that language is the respondent’s mother tongue. Several psychological theoretical considerations and empirical observations indicate that respondents’ answering behaviors are influenced by whether the questions are presented in their mother tongue or a non-native language. Therefore, the extent to which these mechanisms and effects of language used are also applicable and relevant in social science studies remains unclear. Based on models of cognitive load, satisficing, and language-dependent memory, the influence of language nativeness on response behavior is explained from a theoretical point of view. The research question will be answered by analyzing the data from the refugee study ReGES (Refugees in the German Educational System). The results of the analyses show that there is a difference in response behavior depending on whether a question is answered in a mother tongue or a non-native language. The implications, both from a survey methodological point of view and for further research, will be discussed.