Family Planning for Strangers: An Experiment on the Validity of Reported Contraceptive Use

PloS One
Guy StecklovMariano Sana

Abstract

Sterilization levels reported in the Dominican Republic appear well above what we would normally expect given prevailing patterns in the region. We suspect that the use of strangers as interviewers--the normative approach in data collection in both developed and developing country settings--may be partly responsible for this result, and may underlie a long history of bias in family planning data. We present findings from a field experiment conducted in a Dominican town in 2010, where interviewer assignment was randomized by level of preexisting level of familiarity between interviewer and respondent. In our data, sterilization use is higher when the interviewer is an outsider, as opposed to someone known to the respondent or from the same community. In addition, high sterilization use is correlated with a propensity of respondents to present themselves in a positive light to interviewers. These results call into question the routine use of strangers and outsiders as interviewers in demographic and health surveys.

References

Feb 1, 1976·The Journal of Endocrinology·K H LuJ Meites
Jan 1, 1992·Journal of Public Health Dentistry·M G Grodberg
Jul 14, 2001·Studies in Family Planning·S Becker, E Costenbader
Jul 23, 2002·Studies in Family Planning·Ann K BlancTrevor N Croft
Apr 22, 2003·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology·Delroy L PaulhusDaria C Lysy
Jun 11, 2004·Tropical Medicine & International Health : TM & IH·Mary L PlummerRichard J Hayes
Jun 10, 2006·Journal of Biosocial Science·Tara M SullivanJames D Shelton
Nov 23, 2006·Lancet·John ClelandJolene Innis
Mar 16, 2013·Lancet·John Cleland, Iqbal H Shah
May 7, 2013·AJS; American Journal of Sociology·Margaret Frye
Jun 17, 2014·Studies in Family Planning·John Bongaarts

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Citations

Mar 19, 2016·Population Studies·Mariano SanaAlexander A Weinreb

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
contraception

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