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Reproducibility package for Privacy And Measurement Error In Phone Surveys: The Case Of Women’s Agency

2026
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Reference ID
RR_GTM_2026_772
Author(s)
Julián Pierino Pedrazzi, Jorge M. Agüero, Viviana M.E. Perego, Javier Romero
Metadata
JSON
Created on
Nov 09, 2026
Last modified
Nov 09, 2026
Page views
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  • Overview
  • Reproducibility Package
  • Description
  • Scope and coverage
  • Disclaimer
  • Access and rights
  • Contacts
  • Information on metadata

    • Overview

    Abstract

    There is a growing literature focusing on measurement error in self-reported data. This paper studies the case of women's agency, a key outcome in economic development, and introduces a simple and cost-effective corrective measure to enhance the reliability of data collection around sensitive topics. The study draws from a survey experiment in rural Guatemala where 1,183 women received the same questions about their agency as part of a phone survey, but the privacy of their responses was varied.Women in the control group answered verbally. The first treatment group used code words to conceal answers from potential bystanders. The second treatment arm used the phone keypad to conceal answers from bystanders and the enumerator alike. The paper finds that women answering under higher levels of privacy report lower levels of agency, by 0.19 standard deviations on an aggregate index. The effects of the two privacy treatments cannot be statistically distinguished. The effect is concentrated among women with higher social standing, and qualitative interviews indicate that agency is socially valued in this setting. Both patterns point to social desirability bias as the most likely explanation for why reported agency responds to privacy.

    Reproducibility Package

    Scripts
    Get Reproducibility Package
    File name
    RR_GTM_2026_772
    Zip package
    RR_GTM_2026_772.zip
    Title
    Reproducibility package for Privacy And Measurement Error In Phone Surveys: The Case Of Women’s Agency
    Date
    2026-10
    Dependencies
    Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder.
    Instructions
    See README in reproducibility package.
    Notes
    Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.
    Source code repository
    Repository name URI
    Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) https://reproducibility.worldbank.org
    Software
    Name
    Stata
    Version
    19.5 MP

    Reproducibility

    Technology environment

    Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
    – OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
    – Processor: INTEL(R) XEON(R) PLATINUM 8562Y+ 2.80 GHz (2 processors)
    – Memory available: 32.0 GB
    Technology requirements

    Run time: ~1 minute
    Reproduction instructions

    To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:.

    1. Get the data: Download the two anonymized extracts from the World Bank Microdata Library (forthcoming) and place them in 1_Data/.
    2. Run the Package: Update the working directory in line 47 of the do-file 00 - Master Do, and run it.

    Note: The reproducibility package begins with anonymized extracts of the underlying survey data. Personally identifiable information (name, phone number, exact location) was removed by the authors in a pre-processing step that operates on the raw, PII-containing data. The anonymized datasets can be used to fully reproduce the results in the paper. Additionally, the qualitative evidence in Section 5.3 of the paper (semi-structured phone interviews with 104 participants) were not shared with the reviewers and are not included in the reproducibility package.

    Data

    Datasets
    Name
    Privacy and Measurement Error in Phone Surveys: The Case of Women's Agency
    Note
    File location: 1_Data/. Filenames: clean_empowerment_with_age_village_land_anonymized.dta, gua_digitagro_el_no_pii_final_indiv_anonymized.dta. This data was collected by the authors as an add-on to the endline of the DIGITAGRO impact evaluation (1. Perego, V., Romero, J., Freeman, K., Lopez, A., Ortiz, G., Salas, H., Ramirez, R., Locatelli, A., Orihuela, D. and de Ferrari, C. (2022), Digitagro: Investing in digital technology to increase market access for women agripenurs in Guatemala, Report ACS34060, The World Bank, Washington, DC. 2. Lopez, R. A., Perego, V. M. E. and Romero, J. (2025), "Investing in digital technology t o increase market access for smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from rural Guatemala", Working Paper). These two datasets are anonymized extracts of the underlying survey data and are forthcoming in the World Bank Microdata Library. Once published, they should be placed in 1_Data/. Personally identifiable information (PII), including names, phone numbers, and exact location data, was removed by the authors during a pre-processing step applied to the raw, PII-containing data. As this step requires access to the original data containing PII, it cannot be performed by replicators and is therefore not included in the reproducibility package.
    Access policy
    Data is forthcoming in the World Bank Microdata Library
    License
    Custom license
    Data URL
    Forthcoming at https://microdata.worldbank.org/
    Citation
    Agüero, J. M., Pedrazzi, J. P., Perego, V. M. E. and Romero, J. 2026. "Privacy and Measurement Error in Phone Surveys: The Case of Women's Agency". [dataset]. [Forthcoming].
    Data statement

    The reproducibility package relies on 1 type of data: forthcoming. For the source, access type, file location, and citation of each dataset, refer to the Datasets section and the README file.

    Description

    Output
    Type
    Working Paper
    Title
    Privacy And Measurement Error In Phone Surveys: The Case Of Women’s Agency
    Description
    Policy Research Working Paper (PRWP)
    Authors
    Author Affiliation Email
    Julián Pierino Pedrazzi Universidad Nacional de La Plata pedrazzi.julian@gmail.com
    Jorge M. Agüero University of Connecticut jorge.aguero@uconn.edu
    Viviana M.E. Perego World Bank vperego@worldbank.org
    Javier Romero World Bank javierromero@worldbank.org
    Date of production

    2026-10-28

    Scope and coverage

    Geographic locations
    Location Code
    Guatemala GTM
    Keywords
    Field Experiments Measurement Survey Design Gender Women’s Agency
    Topics
    ID Topic Parent topic ID Vocabulary Vocabulary URI
    C93 Field Experiments C9 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    J16 Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination J1 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development O1 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)

    Disclaimer

    Disclaimer

    The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.

    Access and rights

    License
    Name URI
    MIT License https://opensource.org/license/mit
    World Bank IGO Rider https://github.com/worldbank/metadata-editor/blob/main/WB-IGO-RIDER.md

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Affiliation Email
    Julián Pierino Pedrazzi Universidad Nacional de La Plata pedrazzi.julian@gmail.com
    Reproducibility WBG World Bank reproducibility@worldbank.org

    Information on metadata

    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Reproducibility WBG DECDI World Bank - Development Impact Department Verification and preparation of metadata
    Date of Production

    2026-10-28
    Document version

    1
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