Let's talk about sex, maybe: Interviewers, respondents, and sexual behavior reporting in rural South Africa

Author/editor: Houle, B, Angotti, N, Clark, S, Williams, J, Gómez-Olivé, X, Menken, J, Kabudula, C, Klipstein-Grobusch, K, Tollman, S
Published in (Monograph or Journal): Field Methods
Year published: 2016
Volume no.: 28
Issue no.: 2
Page no.: p112-132

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.

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