Surveys with negative questions for sensitive items

Fernando Esponda and Victor M. Guerrero

Statistics & Probability Letters, 2009, vol. 79, issue 24, 2456-2461

Abstract: This paper proposes a strategy for administering a survey that is mindful of sensitive data and individual privacy. The survey seeks to estimate the population proportion of a sensitive variable and does not depend on anonymity, cryptography, or legal guarantees for its privacy preserving properties. Our technique presents interviewees with a question and t possible answers, and asks participants to eliminate one of the t-1 alternatives at random. We introduce a specific setup that requires just a single coin as randomizing device, and that limits the amount of information each respondent is exposed to by presenting to her/him only a subset of the question's alternatives. Finally we conduct a simulation study to provide evidence of the robustness against the response and the non-response bias of the suggested procedure.

Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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