@article{Poulin_22_11,
author = {Poulin, Michelle},
title={{Reporting on first sexual experience: The importance of interviewer-respondent interaction}},
journal = {Demographic Research},
volume = {22},
number = {11},
pages = {237--288},
doi = {10.4054/DemRes.2010.22.11},
year = {2010},
abstract = {Survey methodologists typically seek to improve data on sensitive topics by standardizing surveys and avoiding the use of human interviewers. This study uses data collected from 90 never-married young adults in rural Malawi to compare reports on first sexual encounters between a standard survey and an in-depth interview. A significant fraction of young women who claimed in the survey to have never been sexually active affirmed sexual experience during the in-depth interview, fielded shortly thereafter. Two elements of the in-depth interview, flexibility and reciprocal exchange, foster trust and more truthful reporting. The findings contradict the long-standing presumption that face-to-face interviews are inherently threatening when the topic is sex.},
URL = {https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol22/11/},
eprint = {https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol22/11/22-11.pdf}
}