The DOI matches its Crossref record; 168 of the 168 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Sensitive questions in surveys.
Abstract
Psychologists have worried about the distortions introduced into standardized personality measures by social desirability bias. Survey researchers have had similar concerns about the accuracy of survey reports about such topics as illicit drug use, abortion, and sexual behavior. The article reviews the research done by survey methodologists on reporting errors in surveys on sensitive topics, noting parallels and differences from the psychological literature on social desirability. The findings from the survey studies suggest that misreporting about sensitive topics is quite common and that it is largely situational. The extent of misreporting depends on whether the respondent has anything embarrassing to report and on design features of the survey. The survey evidence also indicates that misreporting on sensitive topics is a more or less motivated process in which respondents edit the information they report to avoid embarrassing themselves in the presence of an interviewer or to avoid repercussions from third parties.
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“Third, loneliness and our outcomes were measured based on self-reports, which may be prone to social desirability bias [40].”
From Predictors of chronic loneliness during adolescence: a population-based cohort study (2022) · cites this paper as [40]
Citations
Cites
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Rand, J., Scotney, R., Enright, A., Hayward, A., Bennett, P., & Morton, J. (2024) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani14192849 · Cited by 11
Prevalence, Incidence, and Rates of Contract Cheating
Curtis, G. J., & Clare, J. (2024) · Springer International Handbooks of Education · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-54144-5_110 · Cited by 6
A Summary of Survey Methodology Best Practices for Security and Privacy Researchers
Redmiles, E. M., Acar, Y., Fahl, S., & Mazurek, M. L. (2017) · Digital Repository at the University of Maryland · doi:10.13016/m22k2w · Cited by 50
Metadata
- Authors
- Tourangeau, R., & Yan, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- ORCID
- Yan, Ting
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2007
- Volume
- 133
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 859-883
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W2080673930
- Cited by
- 3,057
- References
- 168
- Citations by year
- 2026: 279 · 2025: 247 · 2024: 188 · 2023: 157 · 2022: 201 · 2021: 254 · 2020: 233 · 2019: 189 · 2018: 198 · 2017: 199 · 2016: 166 · 2015: 157 · 2014: 153 · 2013: 146 · 2012: 99
- FWCI
- 137.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Survey Sampling and Estimation Techniques
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- sensitive questions, social desirability bias, misreporting, survey accuracy, error reporting, survey design, embarrassment, illicit drug use, sexual behavior, abortion, personality measures
- MeSH terms
- Abortion, Induced, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Personality Tests, Pregnancy, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sexual Behavior, Social Desirability, Social Problems, Illicit Drugs, Bias, Substance-Related Disorders
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