Abstract: Surveys are commonly used in psychological and educational research. Insufficient effort response (IER), as one source of invalid response data, is somewhat prevalent due to the low-stakes nature of the majority of surveys, which often leads to statistically significantly biased estimates and invalid inferences. The current literature shows: (a) IER is commonly believed to be caused by some inner causes, (e.g., low motivation), showing as specific patterns, (e.g., random responding); (b) The most common methods to prevent IER include reducing task difficulty and increasing respondents’ motivation; (c) Current detection methods fall into three main categories, which are proactive approaches/ direct screening methods, response patterns analysis, and response time analysis. Recommendations for future research directions and practitioners are (a) deepening the investigation on IER mechanism and improving the preventing methods, (b) examining the effectiveness of IER identification methods’ applicability of cross-situation and developing new approaches, and (c) delving into the identification and treatment of partial IER.

Key words: insufficient effort responding (IER), data screening, invalid response, survey and questionnaire design & construction