Keywords: Methodological challenges and improvements, including in the areas of sampling, measurement, survey design and survey response or non-response

Using a novel survey experiment embedded in large-scale web survey fielded in 14 countries around the world, I examine the effects of asking respondents to commit to providing high quality data. While prior research has demonstrated the potential for this method to improve data quality (Oksenberg, Vinokur, and Cannell, 1979), it has not been widely adopted by researchers, nor has it been extensively tested in self-administered modes. Participants in the study were randomly assigned to either a control condition or a condition in which they were asked to commit to providing high quality data. The commitment procedure produced higher quality data on a variety of metrics. Additionally, education moderated the effect of commitment for each of the data quality metrics assessed. The results of this study will be valuable for all survey researchers interested in understanding response behavior as well as to researchers seeking to further understand the behavioral effects of commitment and the question-behavior link.