An official website of the United States government
United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information,
make sure you're on a federal government site.
The site is secure.
The
https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any
information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Office of Survey Methods Research
SHARE ON:
More Information
Published Year: 2018
Survey/Program(s): General Methodology
Catalog: Statistical Survey Paper
Download PDF
A Proposed Model for Tailoring Confidentiality Information
Abstract
Using information about the respondent to tailor data collection to the respondent in responsive and adaptive survey designs has been shown to reduce survey error. Allowing interviewers (or web surveys) to tailor question wordings, instructions, or definitions to respondents in conversational interviewing has also been shown to improve data quality. However, tailoring has not been explored in depth in the presentation of confidentiality language prior to beginning the data collection. In this paper, we describe a conceptual model, drawn from the literature and suggested by qualitative evidence. This model illustrates how respondents arrive at their level of assurance about confidentiality and specifies how tailoring confidentiality pledge information may increase the number of respondents who feel assured. The model illustrates that a simple and direct confidentiality statement does assure some respondents, but others need additional information to be assured. However, providing respondents with additional information can also be counterproductive, leading to concerns where there were none or heightening already present concerns. The implication is that to achieve assurance and ultimately gain a completed interview, survey practitioners need to tailor their responses to individual concerns about confidentiality.