Abstract

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.

Replication Archive

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AIO5BR

Software

rr: Statistical Methods for the Randomized Response Technique — CRAN / GitHub

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