Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorBlattman, C
dc.contributor.authorJamison, J
dc.contributor.authorKoroknay-Palicz, T
dc.contributor.authorRodrigues, K
dc.contributor.authorSheridan, M
dc.date.accessioned2018-03-06T08:54:34Z
dc.date.issued2016-01-29
dc.description.abstractEmpirical social science relies heavily on self-reported data, but subjects may misreport behaviors, especially sensitive ones such as crime or drug abuse. If a treatment influences survey misreporting, it biases causal estimates. We develop a validation technique that uses intensive qualitative work to assess survey misreporting and pilot it in a field experiment where subjects were assigned to receive cash, therapy, both, or neither. According to survey responses, both treatments reduced crime and other sensitive behaviors. Local researchers spent several days with a random subsample of subjects after surveys, building trust and obtaining verbal confirmation of four sensitive behaviors and two expenditures. In this instance, validation showed survey underreporting of most sensitive behaviors was low and uncorrelated with treatment, while expenditures were under reported in the survey across all arms, but especially in the control group. We use these data to develop measurement error bounds on treatment effects estimated from surveys.en_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipThis study was funded by the National Science Foundation (SES-1317506), the World Bank's Learning on Gender and Conflict in Africa (LOGiCA) trust fund, the World Bank's Italian Children and Youth (CHYAO) trust fund, the Department of International Development, UK (DFID, GA-C1-RA2-114) via the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), a Vanguard Charitable Trust, the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID, AID-OAA-A-12-00066) DCHA/CMM office, and the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program at Harvard University (Cohort 5). The contents of this study are the sole responsibility of authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employers or any of these funding agencies or governments.en_GB
dc.identifier.citationVol. 120, pp. 99 - 112en_GB
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.01.005
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/31847
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherElsevieren_GB
dc.rights© 2016. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en_GB
dc.subjectMeasurement erroren_GB
dc.subjectSurvey dataen_GB
dc.subjectValidationen_GB
dc.subjectField experimentsen_GB
dc.subjectLiberiaen_GB
dc.subjectCrimeen_GB
dc.subjectDrugsen_GB
dc.subjectRisky behaviorsen_GB
dc.titleMeasuring the measurement error: A method to qualitatively validate survey dataen_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.date.available2018-03-06T08:54:34Z
dc.identifier.issn0304-3878
exeter.article-numberCen_GB
dc.descriptionThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.en_GB
dc.identifier.journalJournal of Development Economicsen_GB


Files in this item

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record