IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/apsrev/v114y2020i4p1297-1315_23.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When to Worry about Sensitivity Bias: A Social Reference Theory and Evidence from 30 Years of List Experiments

Author

Listed:
  • BLAIR, GRAEME
  • COPPOCK, ALEXANDER
  • MOOR, MARGARET

Abstract

Eliciting honest answers to sensitive questions is frustrated if subjects withhold the truth for fear that others will judge or punish them. The resulting bias is commonly referred to as social desirability bias, a subset of what we label sensitivity bias. We make three contributions. First, we propose a social reference theory of sensitivity bias to structure expectations about survey responses on sensitive topics. Second, we explore the bias-variance trade-off inherent in the choice between direct and indirect measurement technologies. Third, to estimate the extent of sensitivity bias, we meta-analyze the set of published and unpublished list experiments (a.k.a., the item count technique) conducted to date and compare the results with direct questions. We find that sensitivity biases are typically smaller than 10 percentage points and in some domains are approximately zero.

Suggested Citation

  • Blair, Graeme & Coppock, Alexander & Moor, Margaret, 2020. "When to Worry about Sensitivity Bias: A Social Reference Theory and Evidence from 30 Years of List Experiments," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 114(4), pages 1297-1315, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:114:y:2020:i:4:p:1297-1315_23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055420000374/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Borau, Sylvie & Couprie, Hélène & Hopfensitz, Astrid, 2022. "The prosociality of married people: Evidence from a large multinational sample," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Carroll, Eamonn & Timmons, Shane & McGinnity, Frances, 2023. "Experimental tests of public support for disability policy," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS159.
    3. Claire Cullen, 2023. "Method Matters: The Underreporting of Intimate Partner Violence," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 37(1), pages 49-73.
    4. James E. Prieger, 2023. "Tax noncompliance: The role of tax morale in smokers' behavior," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(4), pages 653-673, October.
    5. Ananyev, Maxim & Poyker, Mikhail, 2024. "Impact of Prison Experience on Anti-gay Sentiments: Longitudinal Analysis of Inmates and Their Families," IZA Discussion Papers 17137, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Andreas Quatember, 2023. "Efficient item count techniques with one or two lists," METRON, Springer;Sapienza Università di Roma, vol. 81(1), pages 5-19, April.
    7. Olivia Bertelli & Thomas Calvo & Massa Coulibaly & Moussa Coulibaly & Emmanuelle Lavallée & Marion Mercier & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps & Ousmane Z Traoré, 2023. "Collecting data on sensitive experiences and attitudes: a Malian case study [Collecter des données sur des expériences et attitudes sensibles : le cas du Mali]," Post-Print hal-04366322, HAL.
    8. Ó Ceallaigh, Diarmaid & Timmons, Shane & Robertson, Deirdre & Lunn, Pete, 2023. "Problem gambling: A narrative review of important policy-relevant issues," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number SUSTAT119.
    9. Ahmad, Syedah & Lensink, Robert & Mueller, Annika, 2023. "Religion, social desirability bias and financial inclusion: Evidence from a list experiment on Islamic (micro-)finance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    10. Gautam Nair & Kyle Peyton, 2022. "Building Mass Support for Global Pandemic Recovery Efforts in the United States," CID Working Papers 408, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    11. Yazdanabad, Hadi Pahlevan, 2024. "Justification within and between social contexts with the possibility of choice deferral," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    12. Thijs van den Broek & Jack Lam & Cecilia Potente, 2024. "Do middle-aged and older people underreport loneliness? experimental evidence from the Netherlands," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-10, December.
    13. Harris, J. Andrew & van der Windt, Peter, 2023. "Empowering women or increasing response bias? Experimental evidence from Congo," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    14. Marco Gregori & Martijn G. Jong & Rik Pieters, 2024. "The Crosswise Model for Surveys on Sensitive Topics: A General Framework for Item Selection and Statistical Analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 89(3), pages 1007-1033, September.
    15. Bertelli, Olivia & Calvo, Thomas & Lavallée, Emmanuelle & Mercier, Marion & Mesplé-Somps, Sandrine, 2024. "What one thinks, what one says and what one does: male justifications and practices of gender-based violence in Mali," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2406, CEPREMAP.
    16. Olivia Bertelli & Thomas Calvo & Emmanuelle Lavallée & Marion Mercier & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2023. "Measuring insecurity-related experiences and preferences in a fragile State. A list experiment in Mali," Working Papers DT/2023/01, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    17. Michael Callen & Miguel Fajardo-Steinhäuser & Michael G. Findley & Tarek Ghani & Michael J. Callen, 2024. "Can Digital Aid Deliver during Humanitarian Crises?," CESifo Working Paper Series 11220, CESifo.
    18. Ananyev, Maxim & Poyker, Michael, 2023. "Identity and conflict: Evidence from Tuareg rebellion in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    19. Olivia Bertelli & Thomas Calvo & Massa Coulibaly & Moussa Coulibaly & Emmanuelle Lavallée & Marion Mercier & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps & O. Z. Traoré, 2023. "Collecter des données sur des expériences et attitudes sensibles : le cas du Mali," Post-Print hal-04442342, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:114:y:2020:i:4:p:1297-1315_23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/psr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.