Abstract

The list experiment, also known as the item count technique, is becoming increasingly popular as a survey methodology for eliciting truthful responses to sensitive questions. Recently, multivariate regression techniques have been developed to predict the unobserved response to sensitive questions using respondent characteristics. Nevertheless, no method exists for using this predicted response as an explanatory variable in another regression model. We address this gap by first improving the performance of a naive two-step estimator. Despite its simplicity, this improved two-step estimator can only be applied to linear models and is statistically inefficient. We therefore develop a maximum likelihood estimator that is fully efficient and applicable to a wide range of models. We use a simulation study to evaluate the empirical performance of the proposed methods. We also apply them to the Mexico 2012 Panel Study and examine whether vote-buying is associated with increased turnout and candidate approval. The proposed methods are implemented in open-source software .

Replication Archive

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/EWG77Q

Software

list: Statistical Methods for the Item Count Technique and List Experiment — CRAN / GitHub

Related Papers

Kenny, Christopher, Cory McCartan, Tyler Simko, and Kosuke Imai (2024). ``Census officials must constructively engage with independent evaluations.'' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Letter), Vol. 121, No. 11, e2321196121.

Kenny, Christopher, Cory McCartan, Shiro Kuriwaki, Tyler Simko, and Kosuke Imai (2024). ``Evaluating Bias and Noise Induced by the U.S. Census Bureau's Privacy Protection Methods.'' Science Advances, Vol 10, No. 18 (May), pp. 1-13.

McCartan, Cory, Tyler Simko, and Kosuke Imai (2024). ``Rejoinder: We Can Improve the Usability of the Census Noisy Measurements File.'' Harvard Data Science Review, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Spring).

McCartan, Cory, Tyler Simko, and Kosuke Imai (2023). ``Making Differential Privacy Work for Census Data Users.'' Harvard Data Science Review, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Fall).

McCartan, Cory, Tyler Simko, and Kosuke Imai (2023). ``Researchers need better access to US Census data.'' Science, Vol. 380, No. 6648 pp. 902-903.

Kenny, Christopher T., Shiro Kuriwaki, Cory McCartan, Evan T.R. Rosenman, Tyler Simko, and Kosuke Imai (2021). ``The Use of Differential Privacy for Census Data and its Impact on Redistricting: The Case of the 2020 U.S. Census.'' Science Advances, Vol. 7, No. 7 (October), pp. 1-17.

Chou, Winston, Kosuke Imai, and Bryn Rosenfeld (2020). ``Sensitive Survey Questions with Auxiliary Information.'' Sociological Methods & Research, Vol. 49, No. 2 (May), pp. 418-454.

Blair, Graeme, Winston Chou, and Kosuke Imai (2019). ``List Experiments with Measurement Error.'' Political Analysis, Vol. 27, No. 4 (October), pp. 455-480.

Hirose, Kentaro, Kosuke Imai, and Jason Lyall (2017). ``Can Civilian Attitudes Predict Insurgent Violence?: Ideology and Insurgent Tactical Choice in Civil War.'' Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 51, No. 1 (January), pp. 47-63. Winner of the Nils Petter Gleditsch Article of the Year Award. Story by Princeton's communication office.

Rosenfeld, Bryn, Kosuke Imai, and Jacob Shapiro (2016). ``An Empirical Validation Study of Popular Survey Methodologies for Sensitive Questions.'' American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 60, No. 3 (July), pp. 783-802.

Blair, Graeme, Kosuke Imai, and Yang-Yang Zhou (2015). ``Design and Analysis of the Randomized Response Technique.'' Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 110, No. 511 (September), pp. 1304-1319.

Lyall, Jason, Yuki Shiraito, and Kosuke Imai (2015). ``Coethnic Bias and Wartime Informing.'' Journal of Politics, Vol. 77, No. 3 (July), p. 833-848.

Blair, Graeme, Kosuke Imai, and Jason Lyall (2014). ``Comparing and Combining List and Endorsement Experiments: Evidence from Afghanistan.'' American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 58, No. 4 (October), pp. 1043-1063.

Lyall, Jason, Graeme Blair, and Kosuke Imai (2013). ``Explaining Support for Combatants during Wartime: A Survey Experiment in Afghanistan.'' American Political Science Review, Vol. 107, No. 4 (November), pp. 679-705. Winner of the Pi Sigma Alpha Award.

Blair, Graeme and Kosuke Imai (2012). ``Statistical Analysis of List Experiments.'' Political Analysis, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Winter), pp. 47-77.

Bullock, Will, Kosuke Imai, and Jacob Shapiro (2011). ``Statistical Analysis of Endorsement Experiments: Measuring Support for Militant Groups in Pakistan.'' Political Analysis, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Autumn), pp. 363-384.

Imai, Kosuke (2011). ``Multivariate Regression Analysis for the Item Count Technique.'' Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 106, No. 494 (June), pp. 407-416. (featured article)