An Overlooked Population: Why Linguistic Background Matters in Personal Finance Survey Design

Abstract

Abstract

Linguistic diversity in the United States is growing. While language is often a focal area of consideration when designing and validating international surveys, the diversity of language within one individual country may be overlooked. Indeed, despite the diversity of languages used in the United States, most surveys are still administered in English. Depending on English language proficiency, question reading levels and question complexity may impact the responses provided. This may be especially true for personal finance surveys that incorporate complex terminology. Using a sample of 978 adults living in the United States, this exploratory quantitative study provides insights on the relationships among primary language used at home, the reading difficulty of survey items, and survey responses. The analyses include descriptive statistics on the reading difficulty of select personal finance scales; comparisons of item- and score-level response variance between individuals who primarily use English at home (N = 826) and those primarily using other languages (N = 152) both generally and in relation to reading difficulty; and comparisons of response styles or tendencies by primary language, reading difficulty, and their interaction. While the findings were mixed, the results suggest that reading difficulty appears to play some role in how participants respond to personal finance surveys and that this relationship differs by language group. We recommend that cognitive interviews with linguistically diverse participants are needed to understand what cognitive processes may lead to observed differences in item response by primary language and what changes to surveys are needed to better measure linguistically diverse participants’ experiences.