CONFIDENTIALITY ASSURANCES IN SURVEYS - REASSURANCE OR THREAT

Over the last three decades, the public's willingness to take part in surveys has gradually declined, and the decline has been attributed in part to increasing concern about the confidentiality of the data requested. This paper reviews the early literature bearing on confidentiality assurances and willingness to respond, and then reports on three experiments designed to investigate the effects of confidentiality on the expectations of respondents and on their willingness to take part in a survey. The results of all three experiments confirm our expectation that confidentiality assurances are not always perceived as reassuring, and do not necessarily increase the public's willingness to respond.