Circumventing Social Desirability Response Bias in Personal Interview Surveys

SYNOPTIC ABSTRACTSocial desirability is a major source of bias and non-response in personal interview surveys involving sensitive questions. Bogus pipeline is a technique recommended by psychologists to circumvent the problem of social desirability response bias. Although the technique has been shown to be useful in some cases, it is not portable and cannot be taken from door-to-door. Moreover, some psychologists have questioned its effectiveness. Another technique used by psychologists is the randomized response technique. The paper recommends the use of a “partial” randomization response technique and compares its effectiveness with the “full” randomization technique and the bogus pipeline technique by using survey results involving female students under the age of thirty from introductory statistics and psychology courses.