Objective Behavioral Metric via Voucher Redemption

In Simple Words

Giving participants a trackable ticket for a real item at a local shop acts as a real-world test of intention. By recording who actually walks into a clinic to claim physical health items, evaluators measure true behavioral demand without asking sensitive or easily faked survey questions.

Research question

Evaluations of adolescent sexual health programs frequently rely on self-reported survey responses regarding sexual practices, which are highly susceptible to social desirability bias and recall inaccuracy.

Participants

N = 3,358 human high school students in Colombia who provided contact details for e-voucher distribution.

Study Design

Field experiment six months post-intervention delivering e-vouchers (via email/SMS) for 6 free condoms (US $5 market value) redeemable at local health clinics, matched via unique voucher identification numbers.

Results

Treatment group students demonstrated a 28% redemption rate compared to 18% in the control group, representing a 55% relative increase in condom demand (p = 0.07).

Takeaway

Distribute coded, redeemable vouchers for physical health commodities to objectively verify participant behavioral change in sensitive field evaluations.

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