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Moore, Roland S.; and Ames, Genevieve M. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, vol. 47, issue 2, pgs. 32-41 (2002) A key concern in the literature on survey validity is how the absence of anonymity affects responses to questions regarding sensitive personal issues. This paper reports on an experiment conducted to see if respondents who provided their identification to researchers would be as forthcoming regarding substance use as anonymous respondents from the same population. A sample of 1811 male entrants into a U.S. military branch (mean age = 18.9 years), using self-administered questionnaires, provided self-reports of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. Confidential identification codes were visible on 1507 instruments, and absent of 304 instruments. No statistically significant differences were found between the 2 groups' self-reported substance use over the previous 12 months. The findings suggest that the lack of total anonymity in the confidential mode of survey administration does not necessarily impede the same kind of self-reports of alcohol, tobacco and other drug consumption given anonymously.
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