Research Design Connection: Check and X Marks: Implications

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | March 18th, 2019

Newly published research indicates that whether people are asked to make selections using check marks or x’s makes a difference. Yoon and Vargas report that, “We find that the check and X marks carry different symbolic associations; people associate check with good and X with bad…People who make positively connoted [implied] check marks (as opposed to negatively connoted X marks) to indicate their judgments are more agreeable toward familiar, controversial social policies as well as market research survey items on values and life styles. Differential symbolic markings with check and X marks seem to shape how people think and make judgments…Consumers instructed to make check marks may be more agreeable, whereas those instructed to make X marks may be more disagreeable.” Also, “The ways people construe the meanings of marks could also be shaped by their culture…For instance, a check mark is used to symbolize wrong in Sweden and Finland; …