Comparing and Combining List and Endorsement Experiments: Evidence from Afghanistan

Author(s): 

Graeme Blair, Kosuke Imai and Jason Lyall

ISPS ID: 
ISPS14-015
Full citation: 
Blair, G., Imai, K. and Lyall, J. (2014), Comparing and Combining List and Endorsement Experiments: Evidence from Afghanistan. American Journal of Political Science. doi: 10.1111/ajps.12086. Online first 12 February, 2014.
Abstract: 
List and endorsement experiments are becoming increasingly popular among social scientists as indirect survey techniques for sensitive questions. When studying issues such as racial prejudice and support for militant groups, these survey methodologies may improve the validity of measurements by reducing nonresponse and social desirability biases. We develop a statistical test and multivariate regression models for comparing and combining the results from list and endorsement experiments. We demonstrate that when carefully designed and analyzed, the two survey experiments can produce substantively similar empirical findings. Such agreement is shown to be possible even when these experiments are applied to one of the most challenging research environments: contemporary Afghanistan. We find that both experiments uncover similar patterns of support for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) among Pashtun respondents. Our findings suggest that multiple measurement strategies can enhance the credibility of empirical conclusions. Open-source software is available for implementing the proposed methods.
Supplemental information: 

Link to article here.

Location: 
Location details: 
Afghanistan
Publication date: 
2014
Publication type: