Colorbox: a novel method for eliciting sensitive behaviours in face-to-face interviewer-led surveys

Tools to implement the Colorbox method — a novel non-verbal survey technique for eliciting sensitive behaviours in interviewer-led face-to-face surveys, developed by Aurélia Lépine, Wally Toh, and Carole Treibich.OverviewThe Colorbox method addresses enumerator-driven sensitivity bias by replacing direct verbal responses with colour-coded PIN coupons. Respondents select a coupon whose colour corresponds to their answer, tear off and hand over only the PIN portion, and leave with all materials — keeping their response confidential from the interviewer while allowing researchers to decrypt individual-level answers using a secure key.The method supports both binary outcomes (2 colours, 6-digit PIN) and categorical/ordinal outcomes (4 colours, 7-digit PIN), and has been validated in two field applications: child labour measurement among cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire, and risky sexual behaviour among female sex workers in Senegal.Repository ContentsCoupon generator — scripts to produce print-ready coupon sheets with unique, non-sequential 6- or 7-digit PIN codes generated from a secure random seed. Valid codes represent a small fraction of all possible codes, allowing most data entry errors to be automatically flaggedEnvelope assembler — tooling to organise coupons by envelope, participant identifier, and question set (binary vs. categorical), including training coupon sets marked "T"Decryption program — post-fieldwork tool to map collected PIN codes back to their colour (answer) using the survey-specific seed and valid code lookup table, enabling individual-level analysise.ReferenceLépine, A., Toh, W. & Treibich, C. — Colorbox: a novel method for eliciting sensitive behaviours in interview-led face-to-face surveys. World Bank Economic Review.