Gender-of-voice effects in an ACASI study of same-sex behavior

Abstract

This PDF document was made available from www.rti.org as a public service of RTI International. More information about RTI Press can be found at http://www.rti.org/rtipress. RTI International is an independent, nonprofit research organization dedicated to improving the human condition by turning knowledge into practice. The RTI Press mission is to disseminate information about RTI research, analytic tools, and technical expertise to a national and international audience. RTI Press publications are peer-reviewed by at least two independent substantive experts and one or more Press editors. Suggested CitationFahrney, M., Uhrig, J., and Kuo, T. (2010 All rights reserved. Please note that this document is copyrighted and credit must be provided to the authors and source of the document when you quote from it. You must not sell the document or make a profit from reproducing it. Gender-of-Voice Effects in an ACASI Study of Same-Sex BehaviorKristine Fahrney, Jennifer Uhrig, and Tzy-Mey Kuo AbstractAudio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) is a popular method for administering surveys of sex and other sensitive behaviors. One advantage of ACASI is that it removes the requirement that respondents divulge sensitive behaviors directly to another person. Thus, ACASI may reduce the extent to which interviewer effects compromise response accuracy. However, the literature on computers as social actors suggests that even subtle humanizing cues, such as the gender of the computer-generated voice, may cause users to react to the computer as they would to another person. The present randomized experiment examined whether the gender of the ACASI voice affects the reporting of socially undesirable HIV-risk behaviors in a sample of 405 men who have sex with men across 12 US cities. We randomly assigned participants to hear either a male or a female recorded voice. We tested for gender-of-voice effects on reports of samesex behaviors and number of sexual partners. The male ACASI voice elicited fewer instances of unprotected receptive anal sex with an HIV-status-unknown partner (p = .002), whereas the male voice elicited marginally higher numbers of HIV-negative partners in the past 30 days (p = .052). Overall, our results suggest that interviewer effects stemming from the gender of the ACASI voice were minimal in our study. The significant (or marginally significant) effects that we did detect are consistent with findings in prior research and seem to suggest that a female voice may elicit more accurate reports.

ACASI Gender-of-Interviewer Voice Effects on Reports to Questions about Sensitive * Behaviors Among Young Adults

“…Our results provide support for this convention. As noted by Fahrney, Uhrig, and Kuo (2010), however, studies of MSM match male respondents with male ACASI voices to improve reporting (see Wolitski et al 2005). Their findings and our results suggest that this may lead to underreporting.…”

“…Only one study, conducted exclusively with male respondents, directly tested the effect of the ACASI voice's gender on survey reports. 2 Fahrney, Uhrig, and Kuo (2010) explored the impact of a male versus female voice on reports of sexual activity among men who have sex with men (MSM). Their results were consistent with more accurate reporting among the males who heard questions read by a female voice.…”

Using Text-to-speech (TTS) for Audio Computer-assisted Self-interviewing (ACASI)

“…The switch to TTS also opens up opportunities for methodological or substantive research. For example, NSFG (like many other surveys using ACASI) chose to use a female voice for both female and male respondents, which provided consistency with the gender of the CAPI interviewer and is consistent with the literature finding few effects of gender on reporting of sensitive information (e.g., Couper et al 2004; Fahrney et al 2010; Mayo et al 2010; Oloo et al 2012; Price et al 2010; Tourangeau et al 2003). Nonetheless, with TTS, it is possible to record both female and male voices at a small additional cost.…”

Effect of Gender of the Recorded Voice on Responses to Sensitive Sexual Behavior Questions

“…Our results were consistent with studies that found few differences in responses to sensitive topics based on interviewer gender in FTF and telephone interviews (Johnson and DeLamater 1976; Johnson and Moore 1993; Kane and Macaulay 1993). Furthermore, in one of the two previously reported studies of gender of the recorded voice on ACASI, there were no differences found in responses among men who have sex with men in the United States to sexual behavior questions asked by male versus female ACASI voices (Fahrney et al 2005). The one exception was the report of unprotected receptive anal sex with an HIV unknown status partner, which was more frequently reported to a female ACASI voice than to a male (Fahrney et al 2005).…”

“…One component of ACASI that could potentially result in bias and that has received little attention is the gender of the recorded voice on ACASI heard by respondents. In one of the few studies assessing the effect of gender of voice in an ACASI study, the authors suggest that respondents may ascribe human traits to the computers and that characteristics such as gender of the computer voice may influence respondents to react to the computer as they would react to a FTF interviewer (Fahrney et al 2005). If so, then the choice of gender for an ACASI voice may be as important a factor in ACASI design as choosing staff is for more traditional FTF interviews.…”