Randomized response

Randomised response is a research method used in <a href="/facts/Survey_research/6QHqlj8c">structured survey interview</a>. It was first proposed by S. L. Warner in 1965 and later modified by B. G. Greenberg and coauthors in 1969. It allows respondents to respond to sensitive issues (such as criminal behavior or sexuality) while maintaining confidentiality. Chance decides, unknown to the interviewer, whether the question is to be answered truthfully, or "yes", regardless of the truth.
For example, social scientists have used it to ask people whether they use drugs, whether they have illegally installed telephones, or whether they have evaded paying taxes. Before abortions were legal, social scientists used the method to ask women whether they had had <a href="/facts/Abortion/ro0RjIBT">abortions</a>.
The concept is somewhat similar to <a href="/facts/Plausible_deniability/KfCcDNLT">plausible deniability</a>. Plausible deniability allows the subject to credibly say that they did not make a statement, while the randomized response technique allows the subject to credibly say that they had not been truthful when making a statement.

Randomized response open-in-new

Randomized response