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Private but Misunderstood? Evidence on Measuring Intimate Partner Violence via Self-Interviewing in Rural Liberia and Malawi

Author

Listed:
  • David Sungho Park
  • Shilpa Aggarwal
  • Dahyeon Jeong
  • Naresh Kumar
  • Jonathan Robinson
  • Alan Spearot

Abstract

Women may underreport intimate partner violence (IPV) in surveys. In an experiment in rural Liberia and Malawi, women were asked IPV questions via self-interviewing (SI) or face-to-face interviewing. Many respondents appear to misunderstand questions in SI, and significant effects of SI were observed on innocuous placebo questions. Because the prevalence of IPV is typically well below 50 percent, such measurement error will tend to bias IPV reporting upwards. Indeed, the results show that SI increases reported incidence of IPV, but it cannot be ruled out that these increases are spurious.

Suggested Citation

  • David Sungho Park & Shilpa Aggarwal & Dahyeon Jeong & Naresh Kumar & Jonathan Robinson & Alan Spearot, 2025. "Private but Misunderstood? Evidence on Measuring Intimate Partner Violence via Self-Interviewing in Rural Liberia and Malawi," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 39(4), pages 907-923.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:39:y:2025:i:4:p:907-923.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/wber/lhae040
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    2. von Russdorf, Sophie & Ahlborn, Laura & Hidalgo-Arestegui, Alessandra & McQuade, Gerald & Favara, Marta, 2024. "A sound methodology: Measuring experiences of violent conflict through audio self-interviews," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    3. Jeong, Dahyeon & Aggarwal, Shilpa & Robinson, Jonathan & Kumar, Naresh & Spearot, Alan & Park, David Sungho, 2023. "Exhaustive or exhausting? Evidence on respondent fatigue in long surveys," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    4. Carolyn Chisadza & Matthew Clance & Nicky Nicholls & Tendai Zawaira, "undated". "Public Transport, Sexual Harassment, and Social Norms:Some Evidence from South Africa∗," ERSA Working Paper Series v::y:2025:i::id:143, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    5. Beam, Emily A., 2023. "Social media as a recruitment and data collection tool: Experimental evidence on the relative effectiveness of web surveys and chatbots," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    6. Assefa, Thomas W. & Kadam, Aditi & Magnan, Nicholas & McCullough, Ellen & McGavock, Tamara, 2022. "Who is asking and how? The effects of enumerator gender and survey method in measuring intimate partner violence," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322543, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Rebecca Walcott & Isabelle Cohen & Denise Ferris, 2024. "When Who Matters: Interviewer Effects and Survey Modality," Evaluation Review, , vol. 48(6), pages 1024-1049, December.
    8. Carolina Castilla & David M. A. Murphy, 2023. "Bidirectional intimate partner violence: Evidence from a list experiment in Kenya," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 175-193, January.
    9. Iqbal,Nasir & Jalal,Amen & Mahmud,Mahreen & Kate Vyborny, 2025. "Collecting Accurate Data on Intimate Partner Violence : Learnings from Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11077, The World Bank.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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