Let's Talk about Sex, Maybe: Interviewers, Respondents, and Sexual Behavior Reporting in Rural South Africa
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Publication date
2016
Authors
Houle, Brian
Angotti, Nicole
Clark, Samuel J
Williams, Jill
Gómez-Olivé, F Xavier
Menken, Jane
Kabudula, Chodziwadziwa
Klipstein-Grobusch, Kerstin
Tollman, Stephen M
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Supervisors
Document Type
Article
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taverne
Abstract
Researchers are often skeptical of sexual behavior surveys: respondents may lie or forget details of their intimate lives, and interviewers may exercise authority in how they capture responses. We use data from a 2010-2011 cross-sectional sexual behavior survey in rural South Africa to explore who says what to whom about their sexual lives. Results show an effect of fieldworker age across outcomes -- respondents report "safer", more "responsible" sexual behavior to older fieldworkers; and an effect of fieldworker sex -- men report more sexual partners to female fieldworkers. Understanding fieldworker effects on the production of sexual behavior survey data serves methodological and analytical goals.
Keywords
Africa; interviewer effects; sexual behavior; social desirability; surveys, Taverne, Journal Article
Citation
Houle, B, Angotti, N, Clark, S J, Williams, J, Gómez-Olivé, F X, Menken, J, Kabudula, C, Klipstein-Grobusch, K & Tollman, S M 2016, 'Let's Talk about Sex, Maybe : Interviewers, Respondents, and Sexual Behavior Reporting in Rural South Africa', Field Methods, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 112-132. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X15595343