U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Randomized Response Approach to Criminological Surveys (From Methods in Quantitative Criminology, P 41-57, 1981, James Alan Fox, ed. - See NCJ-85331)

NCJ Number
85334
Author(s)
P E Tracy; J A Fox
Date Published
1981
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The randomized response approach to self-report surveys yields aggregate estimates and prevents the derivation of specific information about particular respondents, so it tends to reduce the bias of evasive answers and deals with ethical concerns about the collection of sensitive information.
Abstract
Randomized response is a survey technique for reducing response bias arising from respondent concern over revealing sensitive information. The randomized response method uses indeterminate questions (the question answered by the respondent is unknown to the researcher) and thus maintains the anonymity of the responses. The interviewer merely records the response to a random question. Based on various stochastic relations between the questions and the observed responses, it is possible to obtain estimates of parameters in the aggregate. Because only aggregate estimates are possible, not only are respondents protected, but many ethical concerns surrounding the solicitation of sensitive information are nullified. Critics of the randomized response approach have contended that the reduction in bias earned through the randomized response may not be sufficient to outweigh the severe loss in efficiency. While this argument is valid for many applications involving mildly sensitive information where the potential bias with direct questions might be relatively small, in criminology, not only is the information solicited quite sensitive, but at times it is potentially incriminating. Mathematical equations are provided for randomized response models, and 33 references are provided.

Downloads

No download available