Analyzing the Effectiveness of a Non-Verbal Response Card: Evidence from Ethiopia

描述（由申请人提供）：调查研究人员早就知道，在面试官管理的调查中，受访者经常故意误报他们的行为或态度，以便在面试官眼中创造一个更有利的形象，或者避免造成尴尬的互动。因此，报告偏见是一个特别关键的问题，因为调查研究越来越关注敏感话题，如性冒险，非法药物使用，家庭暴力，以及对性行为的态度，种族偏好和歧视。在拟议的研究中，我们将研究一种新的回应方法，以征求敏感问题的回应的有效性。最近，埃塞俄比亚西南部的Gilgel Gibe社会和性关系历史调查的调查人员试用了这种方法。该调查共包括1，268名随机抽样的13 - 24岁男女青年，并收集了有关寻求健康行为和性经验，知识和态度等主题的信息。“非语言回答卡法”是指使用一张简单的双面卡片，让被调查者以非语言的方式回答问题。这张卡片增加了采访者管理的调查中的隐私和保密程度，它对受访者的认知要求最低。在Gilgel Gibe调查中，采用随机对照试验设计对非语言回答卡进行了测试，其中一半样本使用了回答卡，另一半样本对采访者提出的问题进行了口头回答。拟议的研究的目的是检查的有效性，减少报告偏差的非语言回答卡的方法，并估计的性质和程度的报告偏差的敏感问题的性行为，在许多标准的人口调查。具体而言，拟议的研究将：（1）评估受访者正确使用非语言回答卡方法的能力;（2）测量不同类型问题和不同人群亚组的报告偏倚的方向和幅度;（三）评估报告偏差对多元回归模型系数的潜在影响，该模型使用对性态度和性经历问题的回答来建模性行为;以及（4）使用多变量模型来确定报告偏倚最严重的人群亚组。公共卫生相关性：这项拟议中的研究提供了对埃塞俄比亚西南部青少年性行为自我报告中偏见的方向和程度的估计。它还提出了一种新的方法，用于记录对面对面访谈员管理的调查中敏感问题的答复，从而增加隐私和保密性。在某种程度上，这种方法被证明是有用的，以提高在埃塞俄比亚的情况下，敏感行为的报告的准确性，它有可能在其他发展中国家和低识字率的设置广泛使用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Survey researchers have long known that in interviewer-administered surveys, respondents often intentionally misreport their behavior or attitudes in order to create a more favorable image of themselves in the eyes of the interviewer, or to avoid creating an awkward interaction. Reporting bias is therefore a particularly critical issue as survey research focuses increased attention on sensitive topics, such as sexual risk taking, illicit substance use, domestic violence, and attitudes regarding sexual behavior, racial preferences, and discrimination. In the proposed study we will examine the effectiveness of a new response method for soliciting responses to sensitive questions. This method was recently piloted by the investigators in the Gilgel Gibe Social and Sexual Relationship History Survey, in southwestern Ethiopia. The survey included a total of 1,268 randomly sampled female and male youth ages 13-24, and collected information on health seeking behavior and sexual experience, knowledge, and attitudes among other topics. The "non-verbal response card method" involves the use a simple two-sided card that allows the respondent to answer questions non-verbally. The card increases the level of privacy and confidentiality in an interviewer- administered survey, and it makes minimal cognitive demands on the respondent. The non-verbal response cards were tested in the Gilgel Gibe survey in a randomized control trial design in which half of the sample used the response cards and the other half of the sample provided verbal responses to interviewer-administered questions. The purpose of the proposed study is to examine the effectiveness of the non-verbal response card method for reducing reporting bias, and to estimate the nature and extent of reporting bias for sensitive questions about sexual behavior that are asked in many standard demographic surveys. Specifically, the proposed study will: (1) assess the capacity of respondents to correctly use the non-verbal response card method; (2) measure the direction and magnitude of reporting bias for different types of questions and for different population subgroups; (3) assess the potential impact of reporting bias on coefficients in multivariate regression models that use responses to questions on sexual attitudes and experiences to model sexual behavior; and (4) use multivariate models to identify population subgroups for whom reporting bias is the most severe. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed study provides estimates of the direction and magnitude of bias in self-reports of sexual behavior in a study of youth in southwestern Ethiopia. It also presents a new methodology for recording responses to sensitive questions in face-to-face interviewer-administered surveys that increases privacy and confidentiality. To the extent that this methodology is proven useful for improving the accuracy of reports of sensitive behaviors in the Ethiopian context, it has potential for widespread use in other developing and low-literacy settings.