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Ways to measure honesty: A new experiment and two questionnaires

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  • David Hugh-Jones

    (University of East Anglia)

Abstract

I report on the validity of different measures of honest behaviour. Subjects from 15 countries took part in two web-based experiments: a coin flip with a reward for reporting "heads", and a quiz with the possibility of cheating. Participants also answered questions on moral attitudes, and on unethical real world behaviour. Honesty in the two experiments was correlated, and correlated with self-reports of behaviour. Answers to the attitudes questions did not correlate with the experimental measures or self-reported behaviour. The quiz experiment provides a useful way to measure individual honesty in an online setting.

Suggested Citation

  • David Hugh-Jones, 2015. "Ways to measure honesty: A new experiment and two questionnaires," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2015-02, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    • Handle: RePEc:uea:ueaeco:2015_02
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Urs Fischbacher & Franziska Föllmi-Heusi, 2013. "Lies In Disguise—An Experimental Study On Cheating," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 525-547, June.
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    5. Rajna Gibson & Carmen Tanner & Alexander F. Wagner, 2013. "Preferences for Truthfulness: Heterogeneity among and within Individuals," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 532-548, February.
    6. Christoph Vanberg, 2008. "Why Do People Keep Their Promises? An Experimental Test of Two Explanations -super-1," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 76(6), pages 1467-1480, November.
    7. Marie Claire Villeval, 2015. "Dishonesty in the field: Self-justification and transparency. Keynote lecture," Post-Print halshs-01147066, HAL.
    8. Gneezy, Uri & Rockenbach, Bettina & Serra-Garcia, Marta, 2013. "Measuring lying aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 293-300.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bradley J. Ruffle & Yossef Tobol, 2017. "Clever enough to tell the truth," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 20(1), pages 130-155, March.
    2. Bar-El, Ronen & Tobol, Yossef, 2017. "Honesty toward the holy day," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 13-17.
    3. Bar-El, Ronen & Tobol, Yossef, 2017. "Honesty toward the Holy Day," IZA Discussion Papers 10609, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. David Hugh-Jones, 2015. "Honesty and beliefs about honesty in 15 countries," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2015-01, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    honesty; lying; experiment; questionnaire;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • C42 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Survey Methods
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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