Indirect estimation techniques are important tools for measuring sensitive and stigmatized behaviors. This includes third-party reporting methods, which have become increasingly common in the field of abortion measurement, where direct survey approaches notoriously lead to underreporting. This paper provides the first in-depth assessment of one of the most widely used of these techniques in the field of abortion measurement: the confidante method. We outline six key assumptions behind the confidante method and describe how violations of these assumptions can bias resulting estimates. Using data from modules added to the performance monitoring for action surveys in Uganda and Ethiopia in 2018, we compute one-year abortion incidence estimates using the confidante method. We also perform a validation check, using the method to estimate intrauterine device /implant use. Our results revealed implementation problems in both settings. Several of the method's foundational assumptions were violated, and efforts to adjust for these violations either failed or only partially addressed the resulting bias. Our validation check also failed, resulting in a gross overestimate of intrauterine device/implant use. These results have implications more broadly for the potential biases that can be introduced in using third-party reporting of close ties to measure other sensitive or stigmatized behaviors.

中文翻译：

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评估第三方报告密切联系以衡量敏感行为：衡量埃塞俄比亚和乌干达堕胎率的知己方法

间接估计技术是衡量敏感和污名化行为的重要工具。这包括第三方报告方法，这种方法在堕胎测量领域变得越来越普遍，众所周知，直接调查方法会导致报告不足。本文首次深入评估了流产测量领域中使用最广泛的这些技术之一：红颜知己法。我们概述了红颜知己方法背后的六个关键假设，并描述了违反这些假设如何影响结果估计。使用添加到 2018 年乌干达和埃塞俄比亚行动调查的绩效监测模块的数据，我们使用红颜知己方法计算一年的堕胎发病率估计值。我们还执行验证检查，使用该方法估计宫内节育器/植入物的使用。我们的结果揭示了两种设置中的实施问题。该方法的一些基本假设被违反，针对这些违反进行调整的努力要么失败，要么仅部分解决了由此产生的偏差。我们的验证检查也失败了，导致严重高估了宫内节育器/植入物的使用。这些结果对使用第三方报告密切关系来衡量其他敏感或污名化行为时可能引入的潜在偏见具有更广泛的影响。我们的验证检查也失败了，导致严重高估了宫内节育器/植入物的使用。这些结果对使用第三方报告密切关系来衡量其他敏感或污名化行为时可能引入的潜在偏见具有更广泛的影响。我们的验证检查也失败了，导致严重高估了宫内节育器/植入物的使用。这些结果对使用第三方报告密切关系来衡量其他敏感或污名化行为时可能引入的潜在偏见具有更广泛的影响。