A biasing factor in essay response frequency

In order to get descriptive phrases for use in developing an evaluation form, questionnaires were mailed to 955 randomly selected members of the American Dietetic Association. Each respondent was asked to describe an associate at 1 specified level of competence, out of 10 possible levels. Responses " . . . were received with almost equal frequency for ratees at each of the 10 effectiveness levels used in this study." About the same total number of supervisors and subordinates were selected. The more competent "superiors" were selected, while those who were to describe less competent individuals tended to select subordinates.