USING THE UNMATCHED COUNT TECHNIQUE (UCT) TO ESTIMATE BASE RATES FOR SENSITIVE BEHAVIOR

Many areas of personnel research are ''sensitive.'' We provide an empi rical assessment of the unmatched count technique (UCT) to determine t he base rate for a number of proscribed behaviors for professional auc tioneers. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical application of a UCT technique in organizational studies. Advantages of the UCT are discussed including: (a) a more accurate estimate of the base rates fo r sensitive behavior, (b) absolute anonymity to subjects, (c) ''legal immunity'' to the researcher, and (d) facilitation of complete disclos ure to subjects with no deception.