Complete anonymity compromises the accuracy of self-reports

Lelkes, Yphtach; Krosnick, Jon A.; Marx, David M.; Judd, Charles H.; Park, Bernadette

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.07.002

Cited by 100 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Conscious nondisclosure can be reduced by increasing anonymity; for example, by having respondents privately record sensitive information in a self-report booklet that is sealed before returning it to the interviewer or via private computerized self-administration (Gnambs & Kaspar, 2015). There is some concern that complete anonymity can reduce motivation to report accurately (Lelkes, Krosnick, Marx, Judd, & Park, 2012). These strategies were not used in the WMH Surveys, so we have to consider the WMH trauma exposure prevalence estimates as lower-bound estimates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trauma and PTSD in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

Kessler

Aguilar‐Gaxiola

Alonso

et al. 2017

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

984

720

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Background: Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) onset-persistence is thought to vary significantly by trauma type, most epidemiological surveys are incapable of assessing this because they evaluate lifetime PTSD only for traumas nominated by respondents as their ‘worst.’ Objective: To review research on associations of trauma type with PTSD in the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surveys, a series of epidemiological surveys that obtained representative data on trauma-specific PTSD. Method: WMH Surveys in 24 countries (n = 68,894) assessed 29 lifetime traumas and evaluated PTSD twice for each respondent: once for the ‘worst’ lifetime trauma and separately for a randomly-selected trauma with weighting to adjust for individual differences in trauma exposures. PTSD onset-persistence was evaluated with the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results: In total, 70.4% of respondents experienced lifetime traumas, with exposure averaging 3.2 traumas per capita. Substantial between-trauma differences were found in PTSD onset but less in persistence. Traumas involving interpersonal violence had highest risk. Burden of PTSD, determined by multiplying trauma prevalence by trauma-specific PTSD risk and persistence, was 77.7 person-years/100 respondents. The trauma types with highest proportions of this burden were rape (13.1%), other sexual assault (15.1%), being stalked (9.8%), and unexpected death of a loved one (11.6%). The first three of these four represent relatively uncommon traumas with high PTSD risk and the last a very common trauma with low PTSD risk. The broad category of intimate partner sexual violence accounted for nearly 42.7% of all person-years with PTSD. Prior trauma history predicted both future trauma exposure and future PTSD risk. Conclusions: Trauma exposure is common throughout the world, unequally distributed, and differential across trauma types with respect to PTSD risk. Although a substantial minority of PTSD cases remits within months after onset, mean symptom duration is considerably longer than previously recognized.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trauma and PTSD in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

Kessler

Aguilar‐Gaxiola

Alonso

et al. 2017

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

984

720

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…However, recent research cast doubts on anonymity as the mediating process because an increase in anonymity can sometimes decrease accountability (Lelkes et al, 2012). Although people tend to report more undesirable behaviors under anonymity conditions, the accuracy of the reported behavior decreases.…”

Section: Accuracy Of Self-reported Sensitive Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disclosure of sensitive behaviors across self-administered survey modes: a meta-analysis

2014

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In surveys, individuals tend to misreport behaviors that are in contrast to prevalent social norms or regulations. Several design features of the survey procedure have been suggested to counteract this problem; particularly, computerized surveys are supposed to elicit more truthful responding. This assumption was tested in a meta-analysis of survey experiments reporting 460 effect sizes (total N =125,672). Self-reported prevalence rates of several sensitive behaviors for which motivated misreporting has been frequently observed were compared across self-administered paper-andpencil versus computerized surveys. The results revealed that computerized surveys led to significantly more reporting of socially undesirable behaviors than comparable surveys administered on paper. This effect was strongest for highly sensitive behaviors and surveys administered individually to respondents. Moderator analyses did not identify interviewer effects or benefits of audio-enhanced computer surveys. The meta-analysis highlighted the advantages of computerized survey modes for the assessment of sensitive topics.

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“…In particular, though anonymity as a feature can reduce accountability and accuracy of information shared [32], it often enables people to be more open about their views [33], increases the effectiveness of leadership and group transactions [34], and enables user engagement [35].…”

Section: Impact Of Better Privacy Tools and Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cloak and Swagger: Understanding Data Sensitivity through the Lens of User Anonymity

Peddinti

Korolova

Bursztein

et al. 2014

2014 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy

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Abstract-Most of what we understand about data sensitivity is through user self-report (e.g., surveys); this paper is the first to use behavioral data to determine content sensitivity, via the clues that users give as to what information they consider private or sensitive through their use of privacy enhancing product features. We perform a large-scale analysis of user anonymity choices during their activity on Quora, a popular question-and-answer site. We identify categories of questions for which users are more likely to exercise anonymity and explore several machine learning approaches towards predicting whether a particular answer will be written anonymously. Our findings validate the viability of the proposed approach towards an automatic assessment of data sensitivity, show that data sensitivity is a nuanced measure that should be viewed on a continuum rather than as a binary concept, and advance the idea that machine learning over behavioral data can be effectively used in order to develop product features that can help keep users safe.

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Complete anonymity compromises the accuracy of self-reports

Cited by 100 publications

References 41 publications

Trauma and PTSD in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

Trauma and PTSD in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

Disclosure of sensitive behaviors across self-administered survey modes: a meta-analysis

Cloak and Swagger: Understanding Data Sensitivity through the Lens of User Anonymity

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