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Private but Misunderstood ? Evidence on Measuring Intimate Partner Violence viaSelf-Interviewing in Rural Liberia and Malawi : null

Author

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

Abstract

Women may under-report intimate partner violence (IPV) due to several social andpsychological factors. This study conducts a measurement experiment in rural Liberia and Malawi in which women wereasked IPV questions via self-interviewing (SI) or face-to-face interviewing. About a third of womenincorrectly answer basic screening questions in SI, and SI generates placebo effects on innocuous questions even forthose who “pass” screening. Because the probability of responding “yes” to any specific IPV question is less than50 percent, and that IPV is typically reported as an index (reporting yes to at least one question), suchmisunderstanding increases IPV reporting. In Malawi, SI increases the reported incidence of any type of IPV by 13percentage points on a base of 20 percent; in Liberia, the study finds an insignificant increase of 4 percentage pointson a base of 38 percent. Our results suggest SI may spuriously increase reported IPV rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Park,David Sungho & Aggarwal,Shilpa & Jeong,Dahyeon & Kumar,Naresh & Robinson,Jonathan M. & Spearot,Alan, 2022. "Private but Misunderstood ? Evidence on Measuring Intimate Partner Violence viaSelf-Interviewing in Rural Liberia and Malawi : null," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10124, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10124
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cullen,Claire Alexis, 2020. "Method Matters : Underreporting of Intimate Partner Violence in Nigeria and Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9274, The World Bank.
    2. Marc Höglinger & Ben Jann, 2018. "More is not always better: An experimental individual-level validation of the randomized response technique and the crosswise model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Chuang, Erica & Dupas, Pascaline & Huillery, Elise & Seban, Juliette, 2021. "Sex, lies, and measurement: Consistency tests for indirect response survey methods," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Chuang, Erica & Dupas, Pascaline & Huillery, Elise & Seban, Juliette, 2021. "Sex, lies, and measurement: Consistency tests for indirect response survey methods," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. 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).
    3. Carolyn Chisadza & Matthew Clance & Nicky Nicholls & Tendai Zawaira, 2025. "Public Transport, Sexual Harassment, and Social Norms:Some Evidence from South Africa∗," ERSA Working Paper Series, Economic Research Southern Africa, vol. 0.
    4. 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).
    5. 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.
    6. Rebecca Walcott & Isabelle Cohen & Denise Ferris, 2024. "When Who Matters: Interviewer Effects and Survey Modality," Evaluation Review, , vol. 48(6), pages 1024-1049, December.
    7. 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.
    8. 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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    More about this item

    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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