Private But Misunderstood? : Evidence on Measuring Intimate Partner Violence via Self-Interviewing in Rural Liberia and Malawi
Women may under-report intimate partner violence (IPV) due to several social and psychological factors. This study conducts a measurement experiment in rural Liberia and Malawi in which women were asked IPV questions via self-interviewing (SI) or...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099328207202220249/IDU1d73051aa141f71445619b6f18a510d510c67 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37732 |
| Summary: | Women may under-report intimate
partner violence (IPV) due to several social and
psychological factors. This study conducts a measurement
experiment in rural Liberia and Malawi in which women were
asked IPV questions via self-interviewing (SI) or
face-to-face interviewing. About a third of women
incorrectly answer basic screening questions in SI, and SI
generates placebo effects on innocuous questions even for
those who “pass” screening. Because the probability of
responding “yes” to any specific IPV question is less than
50 percent, and that IPV is typically reported as an index
(reporting yes to at least one question), such
misunderstanding increases IPV reporting. In Malawi, SI
increases the reported incidence of any type of IPV by 13
percentage points on a base of 20 percent; in Liberia, the
study finds an insignificant increase of 4 percentage points
on a base of 38 percent. Our results suggest SI may
spuriously increase reported IPV rates. |
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