Methods for the detection of carelessly invalid responses in survey data

Self-report data collections, particularly through online measures, are ubiquitous in both experimental and non-experimental psychology. Invalid data can be present in such data collections for a number of reasons. One reason is careless or insufficient effort (C/IE) responding. The past decade has seen a rise in research on techniques to detect and remove these data before normal analysis (Huang, Curran, Keeney, Poposki, & DeShon, 2012; Johnson, 2005; Meade & Craig, 2012). The rigorous use of these techniques is valuable tool for the removal of error that can impact survey results (Huang, Liu, & Bowling, 2015). This research has encompassed a number of sub-fields of psychology, and this paper aims to integrate different perspectives into a review and assessment of current techniques, an introduction of new techniques, and a generation of recommendations for practical use. Concerns about C/IE responding are a factor any time self-report data are collected, and all such researchers should be well-versed on methods to detect this pattern of response.