The Surveying Method

Whe Outlook commissioned MODE, a leading market research organisation, to conduct the first ever national survey on sex habits in urban India, it knew this would be no easy task. It would take a great deal of sensitivity and tact to ensure that the urban Indian came out of his closet to honestly answer a wide range of very personal questions on sex and sexuality. MODE would have to evolve a methodology that would deliver the results accurately and credibly. Fortunately, MODE had some earlier experience to guide it through this survey. They had carried out studies such as "Appropriate Methodologies for Studying Sexual Behaviour in India" and had conducted a WHO-sponsored pilot study among various high-risk AIDS groups.

So, this March saw 1,665 married men and women, aged between 22 and 50, who read at least one English newspaper or magazine regularly, in eight metros answer detailed questionnaires which were sealed in envelopes and put into locked boxes. In Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Ahmedabad, Cochin, Bangalore and Lucknow. Anonymity was assured. And as proof of further confidentiality, no names and addresses were sought even for the record books.

But it wasn’t easy coming up with this suitable research design. The aim was to make the respondents feel at ease and fill up the questionnaire without any fear or bias. Direct questioning by an unknown interviewer would have evoked inhibited responses. And even having respondents fill out questionnaires at home ran the risk of confidentiality problems and could have evoked non-responses or incorrect responses.

Finally, eligible respondents were identified through a large house-to-house listing in different areas in each city to ensure geographical dispersion. The objective and importance of the study was explained to selected respondents, who were then invited to a central location in the same area. This was to reduce the fear, if any, of going to an unknown place to answer questions on a sensitive topic like sex. At the venue, the respondents were handed a sealed envelope containing the questionnaire and left alone to fill it in. Post-completion they sealed these sheets into envelopes and dropped them into ballot boxes.

The questionnaire had detailed queries on: pre-marital relationships; marriage and thereafter; oral sex; sexual habits and practices; multi-partner sex; homosexuality; pre-marital sex; masturbation; sex during menstrual periods and pregnancy.