The randomized response technique (RRT) is an indirect question method that uses stochastic noise to increase anonymity in surveys containing sensitive items. Former studies often implicitly assumed that the respondents trust and comply with the RRT procedure and, therefore, are motivated to give truthful responses. However, validation studies demonstrated that RRT may not always be successful in eliciting truthful answering—even when compared with direct questioning. The article theoretically explores and discusses the conditions under which this assumption is consistent (or inconsistent) with the survey respondents’ rational behavior. First, because P(A| Yes) > P(A| No), both types of respondents, A (with sensitive trait) and non-A (without sensitive trait), have an incentive to disregard the instructions in the RRT mode. In contrast, respondents type non-A have no incentive to lie in the direct questioning mode. Thus, the potential for social desirability bias is (theoretically) higher in the RRT mode. Second, a basic game theoretic approach conceptualizes the survey interview as a social interaction between the respondent and the interviewer within the context of norms and mutual expectations. It is argued that the respondent’s choice to answer truthfully depends on (a) the respondents’ estimated likelihood that the interviewer honors trust and (b) a relative comparison of the utility from conforming to “the norm of truthfulness” versus its costs. Finally, we review previous empirical evidence and show that our theoretical model can explain both successes and failures of the RRT.
This paper treats the stability of two superposed gravitating streams rotating about the axis transverse to the horizontal magnetic field. The critical wave number for instability is found to be affected by rotation for propagation perpendicular to the axis about which the system rotates. The critical wave number for instability is not affected by rotation when waves propagate along the axis of rotation. The critical wave number is affected by both the magnetic field and the streaming velocity in both cases. Both the magnetic field and the rotation are stabilizing, while the streaming velocity is destabilizing.
In sociology, Coleman's diagram (the "Coleman-boat" or "Coleman's bathtub") has become the standard way of representing micro-macro links. Coleman's work on micro-macro links and his diagram have several "predecessors". Many of these are due to European sociologists and appeared, roughly, in the period 1970-1980, quite some years ahead of Coleman's contributions. Much of this work, while often seminal, has been hardly noticed outside Europe and is meanwhile largely forgotten. Moreover, it has been typically published in languages like German, Dutch, and French that are not easily accessible to sociologists who tend to focus on scholarly literature in English, if only because of lack of command of other languages. We present a brief overview of some of the relevant work.
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