About a half century ago, Warner (1965)
proposed the randomized response method as a survey technique to
reduce potential bias due to non-response and social desirability
when asking questions about sensitive behaviors and beliefs. This
method asks respondents to use a randomization device, such as a
coin flip, whose outcome is unobserved by the interviewer. By
introducing random noise, the method conceals individual responses
and protects respondent privacy. While numerous methodological
advances have been made, we find surprisingly few applications of
this promising survey technique. In this paper, we address this gap
by (1) reviewing standard designs available to applied researchers,
(2) developing various multivariate regression techniques for
substantive analyses, (3) proposing power analyses to help improve
research designs, (4) presenting new robust designs that are based
on less stringent assumptions than those of the standard designs,
and (5) making all described methods available through
open-source software. We
illustrate some of these methods with an original survey about
militant groups in Nigeria.