Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/328202 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 18072
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Prevailing methods for measuring sensitive outcomes confront researchers with an inherent bias-variance trade- off: direct questioning is prone to a sensitivity bias, while indirect methods such as list experiments are substantially less precise. We introduce the ballot-bag, a novel technique that relaxes this trade-off by mitigating bias in direct questioning while improving precision over indirect methods. In a field experiment in Egypt, where direct questions on irregular migration are biased, ballot-bag estimates closely align with those from a list experiment but exhibit significantly lower variance. Consequently, treatment effects are highly significant via the ballot-bag and not via the list experiment.
Subjects: 
sensitive behaviors
survey methods
sensitivity bias
field experiments
irregular migration
JEL: 
C83
C93
J61
O15
D83
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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