Sex, lies, and measurement: Consistency tests for indirect response survey methods

Social scientists seeking to analyze socially sanctioned behaviors or attitudes increasingly rely on indirect response survey methods, meant to veil the answers of individual respondents. We propose simple internal consistency tests for two such methods, the list experiment and the randomized response technique (its Warner and Crosswise variants). We implement these tests in two studies on sexual and reproductive health behavior in Cameroon and Co<^>te d'Ivoire. Non-compliance with instructions among surveyed individuals appears high and not easily char-acterizable. The tests we propose can be easily and cheaply embedded in measurement tools, allowing researchers to at least know whether their data is reliable before using it.

Automated summary

Social scientists are increasingly relying on indirect response survey methods to analyze socially sanctioned behaviors or attitudes, and our proposed simple internal consistency tests can help researchers assess the reliability of the data.