Randomized response measurement techniques have been proposed to overcome subject unwillingness to answer embarrassing or threatening questions truthfully. Many of the applications to date have dealt with health-related issues. This article demonstrates the application of the unrelated question randomized response design with one such question. Although the techniques are currently underused, they are to be recommended for use in evaluating programs designed to deal with potentially sensitive behaviors orfor research involving attitudes toward sensitive issues.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BERMAN, J.
, H. McCOMBS, and R. BORUCH (1977) "Notes on the contamination method."Sociological Methods and Research6, 1: 45-63.
2.
BORUCH, R. F.
(1971) "Maintaining confidentiality of data in educational research: a systematic analysis."Amer. Psychologist26, 5: 413-430.
3.
BRADBURN, N. M.
and S. SUDMAN (1979) Improving Interview Method and Questionnaire Design. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
4.
FIDLER, D. S.
and R. E. KLEINKNECHT (1977) "Randomized response versus direct questioning: two data collection methods for sensitive information."Psych. Bull.84, 5: 1045-1049.
5.
FOLSOM, R. E.
, B. G. GREENBERG, D. G. HORVITZ, and J. R. ABERNATHY (1973) "The two alternate questions randomized response model for human surveys."J. of the Amer. Statistical Assn.68: 525-530.
6.
GREENBERG, B. G.
, A. ABUL-ELA, W. R. SIMMONS, and D. G. HORVITZ (1969) "The unrelated question randomized response model: theoretical framework."J. of the Amer. Statistical Assn.64: 520-539.
7.
GREENBERG, B. G.
, D. G. HORVITZ, and J. R. ABERNATHY (1974) "A comparison of randomized response designs," pp. 787-815 in Reliability and Biometry: Statistical Analysis of Lifelength. Philadelphia: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
8.
GREENBERG, B. G.
, R. R. KUEBLER, J. R. ABERNATHY, and D. G. HORVITZ (1971) "Respondent hazards in the unrelated question randomized response model."J. of Statistical Planning and Inference1: 53-60.
9.
KROTKI, K. J.
and B. FOX (1973) "The randomized response technique, the interview, and the self-administered questionnaire: an empirical comparison of fertility reports," pp. 367-371 in Proceedings of the Social Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association. Washington, DC: American Statistical Association.
10.
LANKE, J.
(1975) "On the choice of the unrelated question in Simmons' version of randomized response."J. of the Amer. Statistical Assn.70: 80-83.
11.
LEVY, K. J.
(1978) "Sample size comparisons involving the randomized response technique."J. of Experimental Education47: 21-23.
12.
MORIARITY, M.
and F. WISEMAN (1976) "On the choice of randomization technique with the randomized response model," pp. 624-626 in Proceedings of the Social Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association. Washington, DC: American Statistical Association.
13.
SOEKEN, K. L.
and G. B. MACREADY (1982) "Respondents' perceived protection when using randomized response."Psych. Bull.92, 2: 487-489.
14.
TRACY, P. E.
and J. A. FOX (1981) "The validity of randomized response for sensitive measurements."Amer. Soc. Rev.46: 187-200.
15.
WARNER, S. L.
(1965) "Randomized response: a survey technique for eliminating evasive answer bias."J. of the Amer. Statistical Assn.60: 63-69.
