Surveyor Gender Modifies Average Survey Responses: Evidence from Household Surveys in Four Sub-Saharan African Countries

Relatively little is known regarding the influence of surveyor traits on respondent behavior. In this paper, we assess the extent to which survey gender modifies average survey responses in the context of health-focused household surveys. We pool data from four recent health-focused household surveys using both male and female surveyors: Burkina Faso (2014), Cameroon (2012), Central African Republic (2012), and Republic of Congo (2014). In all surveys, surveyors were pre-assigned to households based on an initial household listing. We compare responses given to male and female surveyors across three domains: household characteristics, child mortality and reproductive health. Multivariable regression with enumeration area fixed-effects were used to estimate response differentials. A total of 22,835 household surveys were analyzed. The proportion of interviews conducted by female interviews varied between 9 percent in Central African Republic and 52 percent in Cameroon. Female surveyor gender increased the odds of reporting asset ownership by 9.4% (OR 1.094, 95% CI: 1.024,1.169) and increased the odds of reporting a pregnancy-related event by 25% (OR 1.246 (95% CI: 1.12,1.393). Being interviewed by a woman increased the odds of respondents reporting a stillbirth by 29% (95% CI: 1.118,1.492), and the odds of reporting a miscarriage by 17% (95% CI: 1.072,1.284). Substantial heterogeneity in gender-specific reporting was found across the four countries. We did not find evidence that the gender of the participant modified the effect of surveyor gender for household items. Our results suggest that surveyor gender is highly predictive of survey responses. For health surveys, female surveyors are likely to receive more accurate and consistent responses. More generally, social distance between interviewers and interviewees should be minimized in large scale surveys.