In psychology and social research, unmatched count, or item count, is a technique to improve, through anonymity, the number of true answers to possibly embarrassing or self-incriminating questions. It is very simple to use but yields only the number of people bearing the property of interest and leads to a larger sampling error than direct questions. It was introduced by Raghavarao and Federer in 1979.[1]
The participants of the survey are divided into two groups at random. One group, the control group, is given a few harmless questions, while the other group gets an additional question regarding the property of interest. The respondents are to reveal only the number of "yes" answers they have given. Since the interviewer does not know how they arrived at that number, it is safe to answer the awkward question truthfully. Due to the unmatched count of items, the number of people who answered "yes" to the awkward question can be mathematically deduced. [1]
Exampleedit
The control group is asked how many of the following statements apply:
1 - I have changed my place of residence. 2 - I own a pet. 3 - I like to go to the theatre. ⋮ 410 - I have never been in a traffic accident.
Let the total number of possible "yes" answers from this group be 410.
The second group additionally gets questions concerning the point of interest:
⋮ 460 - I have cheated on an examination.
Let the total number of possible "yes" answers from this group be 460.
Evaluationedit
The number of "yes" answers in the control group is called the baseline. It is assumed that the second group would have given the same number, were it not for the critical questions. Thus, their additional "yes" answers (up to 50 in the example) are due to the critical questions. This is used to estimate the percentage of cheaters in the population.
^D. Raghavarao and W. T. Federer (1979). "Block Total Response as an Alternative to the Randomized Response Method in Surveys". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B. 41 (1): 40–45.
Elisabeth Coutts, Ben Jann (2009). Sensitive Questions in Online Surveys: Experimental Results for the Randomized Response Technique (RRT) and the Unmatched Count Technique (UCT), General Online Research Conference in Vienna
Dan R. Dalton, James C. Wimbush, Catherine M. Daily (1994). Using the Unmatched Count Technique (UCT) to estimate base rates for sensitive behavior. Personnel Psychology 47, pp. 817–829
Allison M. Ahart, Paul R. Sackett (2004). A New Method of Examining Relationships between Individual Difference Measures and Sensitive Behavior Criteria: Evaluating the Unmatched Count Technique. Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 101–114
External linksedit
Joseph LaBrie, Mitchell Earleywine E. (2000). Sexual risk behavior and alcohol: Higher base rates revealed using the unmatched-count technique. The Journal of Sex Research, 37, 321–326
T. Tsuchiya, Y. Hirai, S. Ono (2007). A study of the properties of the item count technique. Public Opinion Quarterly
January 01, 1970
unmatched, count, psychology, social, research, unmatched, count, item, count, technique, improve, through, anonymity, number, true, answers, possibly, embarrassing, self, incriminating, questions, very, simple, yields, only, number, people, bearing, property,. In psychology and social research unmatched count or item count is a technique to improve through anonymity the number of true answers to possibly embarrassing or self incriminating questions It is very simple to use but yields only the number of people bearing the property of interest and leads to a larger sampling error than direct questions It was introduced by Raghavarao and Federer in 1979 1 Contents 1 Method 1 1 Example 1 2 Evaluation 2 See also 3 References 4 External linksMethod editThe participants of the survey are divided into two groups at random One group the control group is given a few harmless questions while the other group gets an additional question regarding the property of interest The respondents are to reveal only the number of yes answers they have given Since the interviewer does not know how they arrived at that number it is safe to answer the awkward question truthfully Due to the unmatched count of items the number of people who answered yes to the awkward question can be mathematically deduced 1 Example edit The control group is asked how many of the following statements apply 1 I have changed my place of residence 2 I own a pet 3 I like to go to the theatre 410 I have never been in a traffic accident Let the total number of possible yes answers from this group be 410 The second group additionally gets questions concerning the point of interest 460 I have cheated on an examination Let the total number of possible yes answers from this group be 460 Evaluation edit The number of yes answers in the control group is called the baseline It is assumed that the second group would have given the same number were it not for the critical questions Thus their additional yes answers up to 50 in the example are due to the critical questions This is used to estimate the percentage of cheaters in the population See also editBogus pipeline Randomized responseReferences edit D Raghavarao and W T Federer 1979 Block Total Response as an Alternative to the Randomized Response Method in Surveys Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B 41 1 40 45 Elisabeth Coutts Ben Jann 2009 Sensitive Questions in Online Surveys Experimental Results for the Randomized Response Technique RRT and the Unmatched Count Technique UCT General Online Research Conference in Vienna Dan R Dalton James C Wimbush Catherine M Daily 1994 Using the Unmatched Count Technique UCT to estimate base rates for sensitive behavior Personnel Psychology 47 pp 817 829 Allison M Ahart Paul R Sackett 2004 A New Method of Examining Relationships between Individual Difference Measures and Sensitive Behavior Criteria Evaluating the Unmatched Count Technique Organizational Research Methods Vol 7 No 1 pp 101 114External links editJoseph LaBrie Mitchell Earleywine E 2000 Sexual risk behavior and alcohol Higher base rates revealed using the unmatched count technique The Journal of Sex Research 37 321 326 T Tsuchiya Y Hirai S Ono 2007 A study of the properties of the item count technique Public Opinion Quarterly Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Unmatched count amp oldid 1223022429, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
