involves a form of deception, where researchers convince a subject through a series of rigged demonstrations that a machine can accurately determine if a participant is being truthful when responding to certain questions. After the participant completes the survey or questionnaire, they are debriefed. This is a rare technique, and does not see much use because of the cost, time commitment and because it is a one-use only technique for each participant. Selection interviewers: This strategy allows participants to select the person or persons who will be conducting the interview or presiding over the experiment. This, in the hope that with a higher degree of rapport, subjects will be more likely to answer honestly. Proxy subjects: Instead of asking a person directly, this strategy questions someone who is close to or knows the target individual well. This technique is generally limited to questions about behavior, and is not adequate for asking about attitudes or beliefs. The degree of effectiveness for each of these techniques or strategies differs depending on the situation and the question asked. In order to be the most successful in reducing social desirability bias in a wide range of situations, it has been suggested that researchers utilize a combination of these techniques to have the best chance at mitigating the effects of social desirability bias. Validations are not made on a "more is better" assumption (higher stated prevalence of the behavior of interest) when selecting the best method for reducing SDB as this is a "weak validation" that does not always guarantee the best results. Instead, ground "truthed" comparisons of observed data to stated data should reveal the most accurate method. Related terminology Non-response bias is not the opposite of response bias and is not a type of cognitive bias: it occurs in a statistical survey if those who respond to the survey differ in the outcome variable. Response rate is not a cognitive bias, but rather refers to a ratio of those who complete the survey and those who do not. Highly vulnerable areas Some areas or topics that are highly vulnerable to the various types of response bias include: alcoholism self-reporting in mental illness, especially depression See also List of cognitive biases Compound question Loaded question Misinformation effect, similar effect for memory instead of opinion. Opinion poll Randomized response Total survey error Notes Further reading External links Estimation of Response Bias in the NHES:95 Adult