The Validity Of The Randomized Response Method In Tax Ethics Research

Abstract

The survey questionnaire often is used to obtain data in research involving tax compliance and tax ethics issues. The use of the randomized response (RR) survey technique has been suggested for mitigating response and non-response biases in studies regarding sensitive issues. This study compares tax preparer responses using a traditional questionnaire to responses using the RR method. The results indicate that RR does not reduce response or non-response biases in the given decision context. Thus, tax preparers may not be good subjects for a randomized response methodology.