Applying Technology Science Reports that Audio-CASI Increases Disclosure of Sensitive Behaviors In an article entitled "Adolescent Sexual Behavior, Drug Use, and Violence: Increased Reporting with Computer Survey Technology," authors C.F. Turner et al. report that "respondents... were much more likely to report risky behaviors when they were interviewed with audio-CASI measurement technology than when interviewed with the more traditional paper self-administered questionnaires." The article, which appeared in a May 1998 issue of the journal Science, outlined the authors' success using audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audio-CASI) in a large-scale national survey, the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males (NSAM). The authors explain their use of audio-CASI, discuss the survey sample and experiment, provide estimations of prevalence of risk behaviors, and describe variations in effects across social and demographic subgroups. According to the authors, audio-CASI "appears to have a more pronounced effect on the reporting of behaviors that are particularly sensitive, stigmatized, or subject to serious legal sanctions, compared with less sensitive areas of conduct," and they report that the technology is "reducing the underreporting bias known to affect such measurements." Back to Sawtooth News Index