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Reducing socially desirable responses in epidemiologic surveys: an extension of the randomized-response technique
Morten Moshagen1, Jochen Musch, Martin Ostapczuk
1Institute of Experimental Psychology, University of Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf, Germany. morten.moshagen@uni-duesseldorf.de
Background:
Even though the validity of self-reports of sensitive behaviors is threatened by social desirability bias, interviews and questionnaires are widely used in epidemiologic surveys on these topics.
Methods:
In the randomized-response technique, a randomization device is used to determine whether participants are asked to respond truthfully or whether they are prompted to provide a prespecified response. In this study, the randomized-response technique was extended by using a cheating-detection modification to obtain more valid data. The survey was on the dental hygiene habits of Chinese college students.
Results:
Whereas only 35% of men and 10% of women admitted to insufficient dental hygiene when questioned directly, 51% of men and 20% of women attested to this socially undesirable behavior in a randomized-response survey.
Conclusions:
Given the considerable discrepancy between the results obtained by direct questioning and by using the randomized-response technique, we propose that this technique be considered for use in epidemiologic studies of sensitive behaviors.
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