A sound methodology: measuring experiences of violent conflict through audio self-interviews

This paper investigates the impact of different survey administration methods on the disclosure of sensitive or traumatic experiences. Respondents of a pilot study in Ethiopia were randomly assigned to answer questions either using audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) or as part of a face-to-face (FtF) enumerator-based interview. Results indicate that ACASI led to higher disclosure rates of conflict-related experiences, particularly for the most sensitive questions, i.e., when either the respondent or a close friend or family member was the victim, or when the trauma suffered was more severe. ACASI offers a viable solution to measure traumatic conflict-related experience exposure in low-literacy settings, overcoming the underestimation problem commonly observed when using standard survey methods.