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A mixed-mode sensitive research on cannabis use and sexual addiction: improving self-reporting by means of indirect questioning techniques

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Abstract

In this article, we describe the methods employed and the results obtained from a mixed-mode “sensitive research” conducted in Spain to estimate certain aspects concerning patterns of cannabis consumption and sexual addiction among university students. Three different data-collection methods are considered and compared: direct questioning, randomized response technique and item sum technique. It is shown that posing direct questions to obtain sensitive data produces significantly lower estimates of the surveyed characteristics than do indirect questioning methods. From the analysis, it emerges that male students seem to be more affected by sex addiction than female students while for cannabis consumption there is no evidence of a predominant gender effect.

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Notes

  1. The Selectivity mark is the score obtained in the university entrance examination. It is computed by summing the marks of two phases, the general and the specific. The general phase consists of four tests, and is scored from 0 to 10. The specific phase consists of two tests and is scored from 0 to 4.

  2. Informe 2016. Encuesta sobre uso de drogas en enseñanzas secundarias en España (ESTUDES). 1994–2014. Observatorio español de la droga y las toxicomanías. Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad. Available at: http://www.pnsd.msssi.gob.es/profesionales/sistemasInformacion/informesEstadisticas.

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Acknowledgements

This work is partially supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant MTM2015-63609-R, Spain), Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (grant FPU, Spain) and by the project PRIN-SURWEY (grant 2012F42NS8, Italy).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Statistics and Finance, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, 87036, Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy

    Pier Francesco Perri

  2. Department of Statistics and Operational Research, University of Granada, Campus Fuentenueva S/N, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Beatriz Cobo Rodríguez & María del Mar Rueda García

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  1. Pier Francesco Perri
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  2. Beatriz Cobo Rodríguez
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  3. María del Mar Rueda García
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Correspondence to Pier Francesco Perri.

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Perri, P.F., Cobo Rodríguez, B. & Rueda García, M.d. A mixed-mode sensitive research on cannabis use and sexual addiction: improving self-reporting by means of indirect questioning techniques. Qual Quant 52, 1593–1611 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0537-0

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