In the research lab we use social desirability scales. While they didn’t eliminate respondent tendencies to self-sensor, they did allow us to estimate (and correct) how afraid people were to respond accurately. The idea here is that some people will self-sensor or self-aggrandize more than other people.

This technique could be used for large-scale surveys within organizations, but I have found that corporate clients are not enthusiastic about the idea. In fact, clients seem to be very suspicious of statistical correction techniques of any kind (in my experience), so they have only one weapon left to make sure survey data is not influenced by distrust. They must be trustworthy.

If employees trust their employers, survey data will be less distorted.