biostudies-literatureHoule BNICHD NIH HHSWellcome Trust112-132https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5300069biostudies-literatureUnknown28(2)Researchers are often skeptical of sexual behavior surveys: respondents may lie or forget details of their intimate lives, and interviewers may exercise authority in how they capture responses. We use data from a 2010-2011 cross-sectional sexual behavior survey in rural South Africa to explore who says what to whom about their sexual lives. Results show an effect of fieldworker age across outcomes -- respondents report "safer", more "responsible" sexual behavior to older fieldworkers; and an effect of fieldworker sex -- men report more sexual partners to female fieldworkers. Understanding fieldworker effects on the production of sexual behavior survey data serves methodological and analytical goals.Field methodsLet's Talk about Sex, Maybe: Interviewers, Respondents, and Sexual Behavior Reporting in Rural South Africa.PMC5300069085477/Z/08/ZP2C HD066613Menken JHoule BAngotti NKabudula CTollman SMWilliams JGomez-Olive FXKlipstein-Grobusch KClark SJfalseLet's Talk about Sex, Maybe: Interviewers, Respondents, and Sexual Behavior Reporting in Rural South Africa.Researchers are often skeptical of sexual behavior surveys: respondents may lie or forget details of their intimate lives, and interviewers may exercise authority in how they capture responses. We use data from a 2010-2011 cross-sectional sexual behavior survey in rural South Africa to explore who says what to whom about their sexual lives. Results show an effect of fieldworker age across outcomes -- respondents report "safer", more "responsible" sexual behavior to older fieldworkers; and an effect of fieldworker sex -- men report more sexual partners to female fieldworkers. Understanding fieldworker effects on the production of sexual behavior survey data serves methodological and analytical goals.2016-01-01T00:00:00Z20162020-10-29T14:02:28Z2019-03-27T02:36:11ZS-EPMC53000692819097710.1177/1525822X1559534310.1177/1525822x15595343