Indirect Questioning Research Articles

Multiple sensitive estimation and optimal sample size allocation in the item sum technique.

For surveys of sensitive issues in life sciences, statistical procedures can be used to reduce nonresponse and social desirability response bias. Both of these phenomena provoke nonsampling errors that are difficult to deal with and can seriously flaw the validity of the analyses. The item sum technique (IST) is a very recent indirect questioning method derived from the item count technique that seeks to procure more reliable responses on quantitative items than direct questioning while preserving respondents' anonymity. This article addresses two important questions concerning the IST: (i) its implementation when two or more sensitive variables are investigated and efficient estimates of their unknown population means are required; (ii) the determination of the optimal sample size to achieve minimum variance estimates. These aspects are of great relevance for survey practitioners engaged in sensitive research and, to the best of our knowledge, were not studied so far. In this article, theoretical results for multiple estimation and optimal allocation are obtained under a generic sampling design and then particularized to simple random sampling and stratified sampling designs. Theoretical considerations are integrated with a number of simulation studies based on data from two real surveys and conducted to ascertain the efficiency gain derived from optimal allocation in different situations. One of the surveys concerns cannabis consumption among university students. Our findings highlight some methodological advances that can be obtained in life sciences IST surveys when optimal allocation is achieved.

Improving Estimation Accuracy in Non\-randomized Response Questioning Methods by Multiple Answers

When private or stigmatizing characteristics are included in sample surveys, direct questions result in low cooperation of the respondents. To increase cooperation, indirect questioning procedures have been established in the literature. Nonrandomized response methods are one group of such procedures and have attracted much attention in recent years. In this article, we consider four popular nonrandomized response schemes and present a possibility to improve the estimation precision of these schemes. The basic idea is to require multiple indirect answers from each respondent. We develop a Fisher scoring algorithm for the maximum likelihood estimation in the presented new schemes and show the better efficiency of the new schemes compared with the original designs.

Improving Estimation Accuracy in Nonrandomized Response Questioning Methods by Multiple Answers

When private or stigmatizing characteristics are included in sample surveys, direct questions result in low cooperation of the respondents. To increase cooperation, indirect questioning procedures have been established in the literature. Nonrandomized response methods are one group of such procedures and have attracted much attention in recent years. In this article, we consider four popular nonrandomized response schemes and present a possibility to improve the estimation precision of these schemes. The basic idea is to require multiple indirect answers from each respondent. We develop a Fisher scoring algorithm for the maximum likelihood estimation in the presented new schemes and show the better efficiency of the new schemes compared with the original designs.

A mixed-mode sensitive research on cannabis use and sexual addiction: improving self-reporting by means of indirect questioning techniques

In this article, we describe the methods employed and the results obtained from a mixed-mode “sensitive research” conducted in Spain to estimate certain aspects concerning patterns of cannabis consumption and sexual addiction among university students. Three different data-collection methods are considered and compared: direct questioning, randomized response technique and item sum technique. It is shown that posing direct questions to obtain sensitive data produces significantly lower estimates of the surveyed characteristics than do indirect questioning methods. From the analysis, it emerges that male students seem to be more affected by sex addiction than female students while for cannabis consumption there is no evidence of a predominant gender effect.

Are Sex Effects on Ethical Decision-Making Fake or Real? A Meta-Analysis on the Contaminating Role of Social Desirability Response Bias.

A meta-analysis of 143 studies was conducted to explore how the social desirability response bias may influence sex effects on ratings on measures of ethical decision-making. Women rated themselves as more ethical than did men; however, this sex effect on ethical decision-making was no longer significant when social desirability response bias was controlled. The indirect questioning approach was compared with the direct measurement approach for effectiveness in controlling social desirability response bias. The indirect questioning approach was found to be more effective.

On the comprehensibility and perceived privacy protection of indirect questioning techniques.

On surveys that assess sensitive personal attributes, indirect questioning aims at increasing respondents' willingness to answer truthfully by protecting confidentiality. However, the assumption that subjects understand questioning procedures fully and trust them to protect their privacy is rarely tested. In a scenario-based design, we compared four indirect questioning procedures in terms of their comprehensibility and perceived privacy protection. All indirect questioning techniques were found to be less comprehensible by respondents than a conventional direct question used for comparison. Less-educated respondents experienced more difficulties when confronted with any indirect questioning technique. Regardless of education, the crosswise model was found to be the most comprehensible among the four indirect methods. Indirect questioning in general was perceived to increase privacy protection in comparison to a direct question. Unexpectedly, comprehension and perceived privacy protection did not correlate. We recommend assessing these factors separately in future evaluations of indirect questioning.

Anonymity and incentives: An investigation of techniques to reduce socially desirable responding in the Trust Game

AbstractEconomic games offer a convenient approach for the study of prosocial behavior. As an advantage, they allow for straightforward implementation of different techniques to reduce socially desirable responding. We investigated the effectiveness of the most prominent of these techniques, namely providing behavior-contingent incentives and maximizing anonymity in three versions of the Trust Game: (i) a hypothetical version without monetary incentives and with a typical level of anonymity, (ii) an incentivized version with monetary incentives and the same (typical) level of anonymity, and (iii) an indirect questioning version without incentives but with a maximum level of anonymity, rendering responses inconclusive due to adding random noise via the Randomized Response Technique. Results from a large (N= 1,267) and heterogeneous sample showed comparable levels of trust for the hypothetical and incentivized versions using direct questioning. However, levels of trust decreased when maximizing the inconclusiveness of responses through indirect questioning. This implies that levels of trust might be particularly sensitive to changes in individuals’ anonymity but not necessarily to monetary incentives.

Consumer preferences and demand for packaging material and recyclability

An increase in the amount of packaging consumed in the U.S. has put pressure on companies to take responsibility for the entire life-cycle of their product. This study uses discrete choice experiments to assess consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for packaging materials and recyclability of a beverage product. A between-subject design was used to analyze the effectiveness of indirect questioning in addressing issues of social desirability bias as well as the effects of information on consumer behavior. Consumer WTP for packaging material was highest for plastic packaging, followed by glass, carton and aluminum. Our empirical analysis reveals that indirect questioning results in WTP values for packaging recyclability that are 60% lower than those obtained from direct questioning. We find that information from a video treatment had a significant and positive effect on consumer preferences and demand for packaging recyclability. Our results suggest that more scrutiny should be placed on studies that do not address social desirability bias when evaluating recycling behavior.

Social desirability bias in reporting of holiday season healthfulness.

Respondents participating in survey or interview based research often tend to give answers that put themselves in a favorable light, displaying social desirability bias (SDB). Understanding the susceptibility of individuals to underreport their perceived unhealthy holiday behaviors or over report holiday behaviors they perceive as healthy has important implications for health promotion and health policy surrounding the holiday season. This study examines SDB specific to the reporting of holiday food consumption and health-related behaviors. An online survey of 620 U.S. consumers was utilized to collect data in which SDB was accounted for via indirect questioning. The online survey was conducted by Purdue University from November 17–19, 2014. Up to 64% of respondents displayed SDB for the eight holiday health statements studied. Respondents over the age of 45 and without children more frequently displayed social desirability bias. Respondents who displayed SDB with respect to acceptable health related holiday food consumption behaviors may be more susceptible to social pressures surrounding other consumption decision making. Understanding SDB in health and behavior reporting, in particular for the traditionally challenging, in terms of health outcomes, holiday season is critical for health practitioners as they seek to promote healthy behaviors.

Risk-optimal estimators for survey procedures with certain indirect questions

Surveys usually consist of a list of direct questions. However respondents reluctantly provide direct information on sensitive topics such as socially undesired behavior (e.g., social fraud, discrimination, tax evasion), income or political preferences. For this reason, the diagonal technique (DT), an indirect questioning procedure has been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we consider multiple categorical target variables where all or some of the variables are gathered by the DT. The maximum likelihood (ML) estimator for the joint distribution depends on the setup of the survey procedure, i.e., on certain parameters to adjust. We conduct a decision-theoretic analysis and derive risk-optimal ML estimators. The special point of our investigation is the incorporation of the degree of privacy protection (DPP). In particular, in the class of ML estimators corresponding to a given DPP, we detect an estimator with the lowest risk, i.e., with the highest quality.

Experimental Comparisons of Methods for Reducing Deliberate Distortions to Self-Report Measures of Sensitive Constructs

Sensitive constructs, such as counterproductive workplace behavior (CWB), are of interest to both basic and applied researchers; however, deliberate response distortions—active attempts on the part of respondents to be viewed more favorably—present a major difficulty with studying these topics. Although different methodologies purported to reduce distortions have been developed, they suffer from various limitations. For example, a notable limitation of what is currently considered best practice, randomized response techniques, is the inability to gather individual-level data. Across three experiments, we compare four different methods for obtaining self-reports of CWB that return individual-level data. Results suggest that whereas providing anonymity, counterbiasing, and implicit goal priming did not result in higher reporting of sensitive behaviors, the indirect questioning methodology did result in higher reporting. We also provide initial validity evidence for the indirect questioning scores and rule out some alternative explanations for the increased reporting of the indirect questioning method. Though more research is needed, these studies provide initial evidence regarding the potential utility of the indirect questioning method for increasing the reports on self-report measures of sensitive constructs.

Investigating determinants of compliance with wildlife protection laws: bird persecution in Portugal

Conservation interventions are generally underpinned by formal rules. These rules often suffer from high rates of non-compliance which is difficult to investigate due to its clandestine nature. Here we apply socio-psychological approaches to investigate the prevalence and determinants of three illegal bird-threatening behaviours—shooting raptors, trapping passerines for consumption, and poison use—by surveying 146 respondents in Portugal. We apply the theory of planned behaviour to understand behavioural determinants, and an indirect questioning method, the unmatched count technique (UCT), to estimate behaviour prevalence. The UCT estimated a high prevalence of trapping for consumption (47 % SE 15) and shooting raptors (14 % SE 11); both estimates being higher than from direct questioning. Poisoning had a lower prevalence according to direct questioning (7 %), while the UCT generated a negative estimate suggesting that poisoning is a particularly sensitive behaviour. Different demographic groups were associated with different behaviours and determinants; men with greater rule knowledge were more likely to trap birds, while locally born people were less likely to approve themselves, or to think others approved of, trapping. Those with more positive attitudes to poisoning were more likely to admit to it, and these positive attitudes were found more in older non-hunters. Rule knowledge was better in younger male hunters. These findings suggest that NGOs aiming to reduce poisoning could enlist the support of hunters, while locally born people may be more receptive than others to working with NGOs to reduce trapping. These groups may be powerful allies in reducing illegal behaviours in their communities.

A new version of the item count technique

Traditional survey techniques on human populations are expected to give poor results when the issue under investigation is sensitive or stigmatizing. Various sources of nonsampling error, in particular nonresponse and misleading answers, are serious threats to the validity of the conclusions. Indirect questioning techniques offer a remedy to this problem. Randomized response, introduced by Warner [14], has the lion’s share in indirect questioning, but an alternative, the item count technique, is popular among social scientists. Although the original version introduced by Raghavarao and Federer [10], Miller [8], and Miller et al. [9] is easily understood by respondents and can be incorporated in structured questionnaires, it does not fully protect the privacy of the participants. In this paper, where our main priority will be the protection of privacy, we present a modified version of the item count technique.

Bayes linear estimator for two-stage and stratified randomized response models

In this paper, we suggest the Bayes linear estimator (BLE) for randomized response model (RRM) to improve the efficiency of RR estimators, only using the first and second prior moments. The randomized response model is an indirect questioning technique used to protect the privacy of respondents in a survey regarding a sensitive characteristic. Meanwhile Bayes linear estimation is useful for parameter estimation compared to the typical Bayesian method because it only uses the first and second prior knowledge of the variable of interest. Also, it has an advantage of robustness with the distribution. We suggest the Bayes linear estimators for the two-stage and the stratified RRM and find the optimal sample size to minimize the Bayes risk for the stratified RRM. Also, we show the difference in efficiency between the Bayes linear estimators and the typical non-Bayesian RR estimators by simulation study.

A Strong Validation of the Crosswise Model Using Experimentally-Induced Cheating Behavior.

We constructed an online cheating paradigm that could be used to validate the Crosswise Model ( Yu, Tian, & Tang, 2008 ), a promising indirect questioning technique designed to control for socially desirable responding on sensitive questions. Participants qualified for a reward only if they could identify the target words from three anagrams, one of which was virtually unsolvable as shown on a pretest. Of the 664 participants, 15.5% overreported their performance and were categorized as cheaters. When participants were asked to report whether they had cheated, a conventional direct question resulted in a substantial underestimate (5.1%) of the known prevalence of cheaters. Using a CWM question resulted in a more accurate estimate (13.0%). This result shows that the CWM can be used to control for socially desirable responding and provides estimates that are much closer to the known prevalence of a sensitive personal attribute than those obtained using a direct question.

An Empirical Validation Study of Popular Survey Methodologies for Sensitive Questions

When studying sensitive issues, including corruption, prejudice, and sexual behavior, researchers have increasingly relied upon indirect questioning techniques to mitigate such known problems of direct survey questions as underreporting and nonresponse. However, there have been surprisingly few empirical validation studies of these indirect techniques because the information required to verify the resulting estimates is often difficult to access. This article reports findings from the first comprehensive validation study of indirect methods. We estimate whether people voted for an anti‐abortion referendum held during the 2011 Mississippi General Election using direct questioning and three popular indirect methods: list experiment, endorsement experiment, and randomized response. We then validate these estimates against the official election outcome. While direct questioning leads to significant underestimation of sensitive votes against the referendum, indirect survey techniques yield estimates much closer to the actual vote count, with endorsement experiment and randomized response yielding the least bias.

Profiling unauthorized natural resource users for better targeting of conservation interventions.

Unauthorized use of natural resources is a key threat to many protected areas. Approaches to reducing this threat include law enforcement and integrated conservation and development (ICD) projects, but for such ICDs to be targeted effectively, it is important to understand who is illegally using which natural resources and why. The nature of unauthorized behavior makes it difficult to ascertain this information through direct questioning. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, has many ICD projects, including authorizing some local people to use certain nontimber forest resources from the park. However, despite over 25 years of ICD, unauthorized resource use continues. We used household surveys, indirect questioning (unmatched count technique), and focus group discussions to generate profiles of authorized and unauthorized resource users and to explore motivations for unauthorized activity. Overall, unauthorized resource use was most common among people from poor households who lived closest to the park boundary and farthest from roads and trading centers. Other motivations for unauthorized resource use included crop raiding by wild animals, inequity of revenue sharing, and lack of employment, factors that created resentment among the poorest communities. In some communities, benefits obtained from ICD were reported to be the greatest deterrents against unauthorized activity, although law enforcement ranked highest overall. Despite the sensitive nature of exploring unauthorized resource use, management‐relevant insights into the profiles and motivations of unauthorized resource users can be gained from a combination of survey techniques, as adopted here. To reduce unauthorized activity at Bwindi, we suggest ICD benefit the poorest people living in remote areas and near the park boundary by providing affordable alternative sources of forest products and addressing crop raiding. To prevent resentment from driving further unauthorized activity, ICDs should be managed transparently and equitably.

Assessing the validity of two indirect questioning techniques: A Stochastic Lie Detector versus the Crosswise Model.

Estimates of the prevalence of sensitive attributes obtained through direct questions are prone to being distorted by untruthful responding. Indirect questioning procedures such as the Randomized Response Technique (RRT) aim to control for the influence of social desirability bias. However, even on RRT surveys, some participants may disobey the instructions in an attempt to conceal their true status. In the present study, we experimentally compared the validity of two competing indirect questioning techniques that presumably offer a solution to the problem of nonadherent respondents: the Stochastic Lie Detector and the Crosswise Model. For two sensitive attributes, both techniques met the "more is better" criterion. Their application resulted in higher, and thus presumably more valid, prevalence estimates than a direct question. Only the Crosswise Model, however, adequately estimated the known prevalence of a nonsensitive control attribute.

Public stigma in intellectual disability: do direct versus indirect questions make a difference?

Stigma may negatively impact individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). However, most studies in the field have been based on the use of direct measurement methods for assessing stigma. This study examined public stigma towards individuals with ID within a representative sample of the Israeli public by comparing direct versus indirect questioning. Vignette methodology was utilised with two questionnaire versions. In the direct questionnaire (n = 306), the participants were asked how they would think, feel and behave if a man with ID asked them a question in a public place. In the indirect questionnaire (n = 301), the participants were asked to report how a hypothetical 'other man' would think, feel and behave in the same situation. Higher levels of stigma were reported among participants that answered the indirect questionnaire version. Furthermore, among those participants that answered the indirect questionnaire version, subjective knowledge of ID was a less important correlate of stigma than for those participants that answered the direct questionnaire. Several explanations are suggested for the finding that indirect questioning elicits more negative stigmatic attitudes. Among others, indirect questioning may be a more appropriate methodology for eliciting immediate beliefs. Furthermore, the results call for implementing a comprehensive, multi-level programme to change stigma.

Knowledge and behavior in an animal disease outbreak – Evidence from the item count technique in a case of African swine fever in Madagascar

Pig production in Madagascar is not sufficient for domestic consumption. Unfortunately, African swine fever (ASF), which is a severe disease, is endemic in Madagascar and constitutes a constant threat for farmers. Therefore, ASF must be eradicated in order to guarantee the development of pig production. One of the main strategies in controlling ASF is stamping out which requires the farmers’ collaboration in reporting cases or suspected cases. The objective of this study was to estimate the proportion of farmers who knowingly sell ASF-infected meat without reporting. Since selling ASF-infected meat is prohibited by the government, we used the item count technique (ICT), an indirect questioning technique appropriate for measuring the proportion of people engaged in sensitive behavior, for one subsample, while another subsample was asked directly whether they sell ASF-infected meat. Based on the ICT, approximately 73.2% of farmers who have experienced ASF sell the ASF-infected meat. This estimate was not statistically different from that obtained by direct questioning. In the 28% of interviewed farmers who believe ASF can affect humans, the ICT yielded a higher estimate than did direct questioning, indicating that pig farmers who sell ASF-infected meat hide that fact because of their belief that infected meat might harm human consumers, not because of the law. The ICT was thus a suitable technique to address the problem of sensitive behavior. In the case of ASF outbreaks, the Malagasy government should enforce the law more strictly and provide compensation as incentive for reporting cases.