Sensitive survey questions: Measuring attitudes regarding female genital cutting through a list experiment

Journal article

Abstract:: Potential bias in survey responses is higher if sensitive outcomes are measured. This study analyses attitudes towards female genital cutting (FGC) in Ethiopia. A list experiment is designed to elicit truthful answers about FGC support and compares these outcomes with the answers given to a direct question. Our results confirm that the average bias is substantial as answers to direct questions underestimate the FGC support by about 10 percentage points. Moreover, our results provide suggestive but not statistically significant evidence that this bias is more pronounced among uneducated women and women targeted by an NGO intervention (not randomly assigned).

Files:: DeCaoLutz17OBES_NOV17.pdf

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Publisher:: John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Journal:: Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics More from this journal
Volume:: 80
Issue:: 5
Pages:: 871-892
Publication date:: 2018-01-11
Acceptance date:: 2017-11-22
DOI:: 10.1111/obes.12228
ISSN:: 1468-0084

Keywords:: measurement

female genital cutting

Ethiopia

sensitive survey questions

attitudes

list experiment
Pubs id:: pubs:810939
UUID:: uuid:1d22ac02-310e-4910-a809-d9da7b143830
Local pid:: pubs:810939
Source identifiers:: 810939
Deposit date:: 2017-12-14

Copyright holder:: Department of Economics, University of Oxford and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Notes:: Copyright © 2018 The Department of Economics, University of Oxford and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The final version is available online from Wiley at: https://doi.org/10.1111/obes.12228

Licence:: Terms and Conditions of Use for Oxford University Research Archive

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