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Perceived Corruption, Trust, and Interviewer Behavior in 26 European Countries

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  • Jörg Blasius
  • Victor Thiessen

Abstract

Identifying illicit behavior in survey research is inherently problematic, since self-reports are untrustworthy. We argue that fraudulent interviewers can, however, be identified through statistical deviance of the distributional parameters of their interviews. We document that a high proportion of the variation in the data is due to the interviewer. In addition, we show that the incidence of interviewer-induced anomalies is strongly associated with the perceived level of corruption across the countries participating in the European Social Survey 2010. The major implication of the findings is that the data from some countries cannot be used fruitfully for cross-national comparative research.

Suggested Citation

  • Jörg Blasius & Victor Thiessen, 2021. "Perceived Corruption, Trust, and Interviewer Behavior in 26 European Countries," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 50(2), pages 740-777, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:50:y:2021:i:2:p:740-777
    DOI: 10.1177/0049124118782554
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dimitrova-Grajzl, Valentina & Grajzl, Peter & Guse, A. Joseph, 2012. "Trust, perceptions of corruption, and demand for regulation: Evidence from post-socialist countries," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 292-303.
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    Cited by:

    1. Elisabeth Beckmann & Lukas Olbrich & Joseph Sakshaug, 2024. "Multivariate assessment of interviewer-related errors in a cross-national economic survey (Lukas Olbrich, Elisabeth Beckmann, Joseph W. Sakshaug)," Working Papers 253, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    2. Mohamed Ibrahim Nor & Abdinur Ali Mohamed, 2024. "Investigating the dynamics of tax evasion and revenue leakage in somali customs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(6), pages 1-25, June.

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