title: Does it matter how you ask? The forbid-allow asymmetry in the measurement of attitudes towards drug policies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is important to know whether the public opinion on drug policies can be measured in a reliable and valid way. One of the threats to the validity of surveys on attitudes toward drug policies are wording effects, of which the most well-known is the forbid-allow asymmetry, i.e., people are often more willing to not allow something than to forbid it. The aim of the present study was to estimate the size of the allow-forbid asymmetry when measuring attitudes toward drug policy issues in the Norwegian adult population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data derive from a sample of 2182 adult Norwegian, aged 18-70, drawn from a large online panel comprising more than 50,000 Norwegian citizens (55% response rate). According to a 2 (allow vs. forbid)×2 (question vs. statement) between-subjects design, participants indicated support for the following three restrictive drug policies: (i) to allow/forbid wine in grocery stores, (ii) to allow/forbid smoking in parks and other public places and (iii) to allow forbid cannabis for recreational purposes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was not a significant difference between the framing conditions (forbid-allow) across the three policies, with an estimated difference of 2 percentage points (95% confidence intervals 0-5).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that survey research in the present context of drug policy is indeed more of a fact-finding enterprise than a process of constructing data.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research, Norway. Electronic address: jr@sirus.no.
authors.forename: Jostein
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rise
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research, Norway.
authors.forename: Torleif
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Halkjelsvik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D004335:Drug and Narcotic Control / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D011639:Public Opinion; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attitudes; Drug policy; Wording effects