American Economic Journal:
Microeconomics
ISSN 1945-7669 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7685 (Online)
Secure Survey Design in Organizations: Theory and Experiments
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
vol. 16,
no. 4, November 2024
(pp. 371–405)
Abstract
We study secure survey designs in organizational settings where fear of retaliation makes it hard to elicit truth. Theory predicts that (i) randomized-response techniques offer no improvement because they are strategically equivalent to direct elicitation, (ii) exogenously distorting survey responses (hard garbling) can improve information transmission, and (iii) the impact of survey design on reporting can be estimated in equilibrium. Laboratory experiments confirm that hard garbling outperforms direct elicitation but randomized response works better than expected. False accusations slightly but persistently bias treatment effect estimates. Additional experiments reveal that play converges to equilibrium if learning from others' experience is possible.Citation
Chassang, Sylvain, and Christian Zehnder. 2024. "Secure Survey Design in Organizations: Theory and Experiments." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 16 (4): 371–405. DOI: 10.1257/mic.20220187Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C83 Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
- C90 Design of Experiments: General
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
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