Response Effects in Sex Surveys

Abstract

Two potential problems in sex surveys—respondent refusals and invalid reporting—are examined for national and area probability samples of males and females. Little support is found for the contention that sexual topics constitute a sensitive research area in terms of respondent cooperation and candor. It is found that (1) respondent cooperation, as indicated by refusals and terminations, is neither more nor less problematic in sex research than in surveys on other topics; (2) respondent reports of sexual matters are not systematically related to interviewer characteristics such as gender, sexual experience, or technical competence; (3) respondent candor, when self-reported, also is not associated systematically with either interviewer characteristics or demographic and sexual characteristics of respondents. This analysis does identify, however, evidence that (4) sexual matters often are sensitive topics for interviewers and principal investigators, leading both to interviewer turnover and the creative construction of unobtrusive data collection procedures.