The Effect of the Sex of the Interviewer on Responses in Demographic Surveys: The Case of Ghana

Researchers used data from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey to determine whether the sex of the interviewer affected answers to questions used to assess demographic variables. Sex of the interviewer did not influence responses to questions on neutral subjects such as number of children. Yet sex as well as age and marital status did indeed affect answers to questions about sensitive subjects. Women interviewed by males were 2.04 times more likely to know a contraceptive method than those interviewed by females (p 25 years old were 1.57 times more likely to know a method than those interviewed by someone 25 year old GSS employees were 3.48 times more likely to know a method than those 25 years old (p<.05). Female interviewers were more likely to obtain complete dates of birthdays of and of marriage the wife husband and the children than male interviewers. For example 76.4% of urban women interviewed by females gave complete dates of own birth compared to only 56.5% of those interviewed by males. This study determined that interviewer traits were associated with different answers but not with more accurate responses.