A controlled randomized response technique

The randomized response survey technique appears to be suitable for studies of sensitive sexual behaviors, particularly in AIDS-related research. However, existing methods provide only estimates of group statistics, not of individual information. Additionally, the popular "unrelated question" approach requires the knowledge of the parameters of the unrelated question. In this article, a variation of the unrelated-question method is suggested for use. Specifically, it is suggested that the unrelated question be one to which the response is known to be "yes." Through this "controlled" approach, the raw data become a direct linear transformation of the response to the sensitive question, and thus can be used directly in regression and other analyses at the individual score level. The estimation of the parameters for the unrelated question is not necessary and the hesitation to provide a "yes" response found in the "forced choice" method is minimized.