Analyst Biases in KAP Surveys: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

The analysis phase of the KAP survey, in which meanings are ascribed to found empirical relationships, has largely been ignored in investigations of this data-gathering method. In order to determine the extent to which a lack of familiarity with the culture of data origin might influence survey interpretation, standardized KAP survey data from Bangladesh were presented to four groups of analysts who differed in degree of familiarity with the Bangladesh culture. Meanings ascribed by the analysts to the same empirical relationships were found to vary significantly by the degree to which they were familiar with the culture.