Non-informative Responses and Cultural Differences: A Cross-National Comparison of Survey Responses between Japan and the U.S.

Compared to Americans, a significantly larger number of Japanese make non-informative responses (NIRs) such as “neither” or “don’t know” in public opinion surveys. However, the causes of such cultural differences are not clear. There are at least three potential causes. First, the relatively high ratio of NIRs among Japanese may be the result of their disengagement from the public matters. Second, Japanese tendency to avoid confrontation may discourage them from expressing their opinion, thus contributing to the higher NIRs. Third, cultural differences in the ratio of NIRs may be due to cultural differences in the way attitudes are formed. In interdependent cultural contexts, such as Japan, individuals are likely to attend to social context and refer to other people’s opinions in order to shape their own attitude. However, others’ opinions are not available in typical public opinion surveys. In such contexts, Japanese may be less likely to form their attitude and thus make more NIRs. To examine these reasons underlying the cultural difference in the ratio of NIRs, we conducted survey experiments both in Japan and the United States. The findings show that the relatively high ratio of NIRs among Japanese is not the result of their disengagement or tendency to avoid confrontation. The pattern of NIRs reveals that the lack of social contexts contributes to NIRs among Japanese but not among Americans. Japanese make more NIRs when others’ opinions are not present than when others’ opinions are present, whereas American respondents are not influenced by the presence of absence of others’ opinions. Such findings suggest that cultural differences in the ratio of NIRs can be partly driven by differences in the way people form their attitudes. Implications for comparing the results of public opinion surveys across cultures will be discussed.