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

描述（由应聘者提供）：调查研究人员早就知道，在面试官管理的调查中，被调查者经常故意谎报自己的行为或态度，以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，随着调查研究越来越多地关注敏感话题，如性冒险、非法药物使用、家庭暴力以及对性行为、种族偏好和歧视的态度，报告偏差是一个特别关键的问题。在拟议的研究中，我们将检查一种新的响应方法的有效性，以征求对敏感问题的响应。最近，在埃塞俄比亚西南部的Gilgel Gibe社会和性关系历史调查中，研究人员试用了这种方法。该调查共随机抽取了1268名13-24岁的男女青年，收集了有关健康寻求行为、性经验、知识和态度等方面的信息。“非语言答题卡法”包括使用一张简单的双面卡片，允许被调查者非语言地回答问题。这张卡片在面试官管理的调查中增加了隐私和保密的程度，并且对被调查者的认知要求最低。非语言答题卡在Gilgel Gibe调查中进行了随机对照试验设计，其中一半的样本使用答题卡，另一半样本对采访者提出的问题提供口头回答。本研究的目的是检验非语言反应卡方法在减少报告偏差方面的有效性，并估计在许多标准人口调查中询问的关于性行为的敏感问题的报告偏差的性质和程度。具体而言，本研究将：(1)评估被调查者正确使用非言语反应卡方法的能力；(2)测量不同类型问题和不同人群亚组报告偏倚的方向和程度；(3)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验问题的回答来模拟性行为；(4)使用多变量模型确定报告偏倚最严重的人口亚组。公共卫生相关性：拟议的研究提供了对埃塞俄比亚西南部青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，用于记录面对面访谈者管理的调查中敏感问题的回答，从而增加了隐私性和保密性。在某种程度上，这种方法被证明有助于提高埃塞俄比亚环境中敏感行为报告的准确性，它有可能在其他发展中国家和低识字率环境中广泛使用。

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.