14:30 - 15:30
Special Topic Session
Room: Hegelsaal II
Organiser/s:
Maurizio Vichi
Chair: Tasos Christofides, ESAC

The large number of surveys conducted by public or private organizations increases response burden and as a result nonresponse rates are reaching alarming levels. In particular when the issues under investigation are stigmatizing or sensitive, many people choose not to participate, or provide untruthful and misleading responses. One way to solve the problem is to implement indirect questioning techniques. These are techniques, which generate data from which the researcher is able to estimate parameters of interest, while at the same time they cannot infer whether a specific respondent has the stigmatizing or sensitive characteristic. A central issue in these techniques is protecting the privacy of participants and to what extent their privacy is protected. The session will put emphasis on various aspects of the protection of privacy in public surveys including the protection of privacy from the respondent’s point of view.
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ITEM SUM: A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR ASKING QUANTITATIVE SENSITIVE QUESTIONS
Mark Trappmann 1, 2, Ivar Krumpal 3, Antje Kirchner 4, Ben Jann 5
1 IAB, Nuremberg
2 University of Bamberg, Bamberg
3 University of Leipzig, Leipzig
4 RTI, Research Traingle Park
5 University of Bern, Bern

Asking sensitive questions in surveys is a challenge because respondents are required to self-report behaviors or attitudes that potentially violate social norms. Norm violations are often formally or informally sanctioned, so respondents are reluctant to reveal potentially stigmatizing information in a survey interview. Therefore, respondents may choose to misreport on sensitive topics and adjust their answers in accordance with social norms. Systematic misreporting and item nonresponse may introduce considerable bias to the measurement of sensitive topics and lower the overall data quality of a survey study.

To combat misreporting on sensitive topics, survey designers developed various data collection strategies (“dejeopardizing techniques”) trying to elicit more honest answers from respondents by increasing the anonymity of the question-and-answer process.

Abstract
Presentation
Reference:
Th-STS03-03
Session:
Protection of Privacy in Public Surveys
Presenter/s:
Mark Trappmann
Presentation type:
Oral presentation
Room:
Hegelsaal II
Date:
Thursday, 18 October 2018
Time:
14:30 - 15:30
Session times:
14:30 - 15:30
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