Sensitive Questions in Survey and Techniques for Dealing with It

Survey is a powerful and reliable way of gathering information and being aware of opinions, perceptions, attitudes, and even beliefs and values, and generally how the public think. Sensitive questions can be the ones that respondents feel vulnerable to. So, it is necessary to analyze the public knowledge of community under study, especially in terms of cultural characteristics and the level of public awareness about the subject under study due to research purposes. Valid, reliable, and interpretable results depend on predicting the likely sensitivities and objections of the respondents. There are special considerations by limited choices on how to deal with sensitive topics in all questionnaires. It seems that in different societies, the type and degree of sensitivity are different, due to cultural differences. Therefore, it is essential to obtain background information about the community under study. In this study, while identifying errors caused by direct queries on sensitive topics, we intend to introduce techniques, methods, or ways that minimize error and deviation in results while asking sensitive questions.