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Reliability study of reporting of days since last sexual intercourse in Matlab, Bangladesh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Stan Becker  and
Suraiya Begum
Stan Becker
Affiliation:
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Suraiya Begum
Affiliation:
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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Summary

The accuracy of responses to a question on the frequency of sexual intercourse in the 4-week period prior to an interview is expected to be low. This paper examines the reliability of an alternative question: ‘How many days since you last had sexual intercourse?’. This was a part of a larger longitudinal study of fertility dynamics in Matlab, Bangladesh. The response pairs of 61 women who were asked the same question by an interviewer and on the next day by a supervisor, were analysed. Refusals were more common among older women and among women who gave a response at the extremes of the distribution for the other interview. Of the pairs of two responses, 78% had a difference of 3 days or less. Further study and use of the question on days since last intercourse is recommended.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , July 1994 , pp. 291 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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