Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
Published on: May 3, 2016
The impact of active consent procedures on nonresponse and nonresponse error in youth survey data: evidence from a
Matthew W Courser1, Stephen R Shamblen, Paul J Lavrakas
1Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation-Louisville Center, Louisville, KY, USA. mcourser@pire.org
Abstract:
This article reports results from a student survey fielded using an experimental design with 14 Kentucky school districts. Seven of the 14 districts were randomly assigned to implement the survey with active consent procedures; the other seven districts implemented the survey with passive consent procedures. We used our experimental design to investigate the impact of consent procedures on (a) participation rates, (b) demographic characteristic of the survey samples, and (c) estimates of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) use. We found that the use of active consent procedures resulted in reduced response rates, underrepresentation of male students and older students, and lower lifetime and past 30-day prevalence rates for most drugs and for most antisocial behaviors. Methodological implications of these findings are discussed along with directions for further research.
Related Concept Videos
What is an Experiment?
Group Design
Ethics in Research
Data Collection by Experiments
An example of the experimental method is a public clinical trial...
Controls in Experiments
Systematic Error: Methodological and Sampling Errors
Sampling errors originate from improper sampling methods or the wrong sample population. These errors can be minimized by refining the sampling strategy. Defective instruments or faulty calibrations are the sources of instrumental...
