Exploring Social Desirability Response (SDR) Bias in Bangladeshi Social Surveys

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Irene French
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1 Exploring Social Desirability Response (SDR) Bias in Bangladeshi Social Surveys Syeda Salina Aziz 19 July th ESRA Conference, Ljubljana 8/22/2013 1

2 SDR in Bangladeshi context Aims & Objectives Identify and discuss possible areas where SDR bias might prevail based on few already conducted national level surveys in Bangladesh. The nature of the study is exploratory to understand and identify the potential areas Aims to do so by looking at the literature and the survey data side by side (and to go beyond that ) It also aims to suggest some alternatives to the existing questioning format to reduce SDR biases 2

3 Rationale National surveys are conducted analyze citizen s perception especially during election Context is very different: education, less exposure to surveys and democracy at a nascent stage Provides useful information to the political parties as well to the citizens in regard to the voters attitude and expectation But obvious apathy towards understanding the design biases no single studies on SDR Risks credibility of the information collected Distorts further statistical analysis 3

4 Review of already existing surveys IGS national perception survey 2007 IGS national perception survey 2008 IGS governance barometer survey 2010 IGS Youth survey 2011 British Council the next generation survey 2010 Daily Star survey 2011 Election poll 1996,

5 SDR bias in literature Race (Redlawsk et al 2009), sex, religion Voting (Traugott and Katosh 1979,Clausen 1968 respectively Holbrook, Green, and Krosnick 2003, Holbrook and Krosnick 2009) Financial transaction in voting (underreported Bursco et al (2004) 8/22/2013 5

6 Voting turnout Difference in reported and recorded turnout Election official records are also subject of many errors as Holbrook and Krosnick (2008) : voting overreporting caused by 3 reasons (1) acquiescence response bias, (2) memory error (3) SDR Krizinger et al (2012)- SDR is one of the main driver. 6

7 Voting turnout Comparison between official turn out report and reported turn out in national elections Official participation Reported participation in surveys 2008 National Election 2001 National Election 86%* 85.6% (Daily Star Survey 2011) 75%** 81%*** (ARD, SRGH 2004) 89% (BYS 2011) 7

8 Voting turnout Voting is a valued civic behaviour and people might feel reluctant to report that they did not vote (Holbrook and Krosnick (2009)) In Bangladesh, democracy is usually defined in the form of free and fair election People may not report that they abstained from voting 8

9 Voting decision ( ) Factors affecting voting intention (prior election) Percent Political party/ symbol of the party 7 Locality of candidates 9 Honesty 65 Contribution to constructing roads, building 11.5 educational institutions Contribution to national development 7.5 9

10 Voting decision Presumably people might feel uncomfortable in reporting that they vote based on their political support Same as monetary and for other benefit the very similar influence of social desirability in choosing honesty as an ideal qualification who might not really consider this as a qualification when they actually vote 10

11 How did you vote? Factors affecting voting decisions: Post Election Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Party affiliation of the candidate 11% 38% 32% Qualification of the candidate 76% 15% 6% Party manifesto 8% 30% 34% Advice of neighbours and friends 3% 13% 20% Monetary/other benefit received from candidates 1% 3% 6% 8/22/

12 Voting decision Factors important to win in the election Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Money and muscle 32% 11% 11% Accessibility 12% 24% 10% Significant influence in the locality 20% 12% 7% Honesty 13% 19% 8% Education 5% 6% 8% Strong position in the party 3% 3% 4% Family relationship/legacy 8% 9% 20% Not being corrupt 5% 12% 25% Not being loan defaulter 2% 3% 7% 12

13 Voting decision This of course reports an anomaly the determining factors for wining should have been the qualification and not money and muscle, political affiliation or strong political position This takes us back to our previous argument, people are reporting in a idealistic manner. 13

14 Political participation Politics is a widely discussed issue in Bangladesh. It is partisan and confrontational in nature (IGS 2009). Usually citizens tend to avoid the traditional form of political participation Prefer to establish their civic engagement through different social practices which are more connected to their day-to-day life (ARD SRGH 2004). 14

15 Political participation Bangladesh Youth Survey 2011 reports that only two percent of youth admitted that they are member of any political party the British Council Youth Survey (2010) findings show only one percent. Even though student politics is highly active in Bangladesh and it is an activity which is guided by and for the national political parties competition, interests and outlook (Alam et al 2011). 15

16 Political participation 80 percent views that students shouldn t get involved in politics. another 50 to 80 percent either strongly or to some extent view that youth can be involved in politics. the most preferred form of engagement is through voting so youth generally prefer to involve in politics in a more passive form 16

17 Political participation Rashid and Gao (2012) -rural youth chances are small very small proportion of rural youth get chance to involve with present politics. But in spite of their argument we still argue that the actual percentage of membership is not reported in the surveys. The general low social acceptance towards existing violent and confrontational nature of politics may dissuade the respondents to reveal their true participation in political parties. 17

18 Discussion SDR is a potential source of problem in Bangladesh Other than voting reporting, other issues need to be looked at At least we can include some complementary question to detect it Having more scale than yes/ no Future research on SDR is needed in this area 18

19 Thank You! 8/22/

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