level of condom use than did national survey data. 4 If both data sources were accurate, then many more condoms were being distributed than were being used; if one source was inaccurate, then it was important to determine which it was. Researchers advanced the following 10 hypotheses to explain the condom gap: 5 Wives interviewed in surveys underreport regular condom use; wives underreport irregular condom use; retailers overstock condoms; a delay occurs between a retail sale and actual use;

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... ples use more condoms per couple-year of protection than the conventional estimate of 100 units; condoms purchased or distributed free are not used; condoms are used for noncontraceptive purposes (e.g., as balloons); a substantial share of condom use occurs outside of marriage; condoms are smuggled to neighboring countries; or, finally, sales figures from social marketing programs are inaccurate. It was not possible to systematically evaluate all of these possibilities, but researchers did at least conduct a large-scale study in Bangladesh to evaluate whether the condom gap could be attributed to women's underreporting of condom use. 6 They took a convenience sample of households in which a married couple was currently residing and the wife was 18-37 years of age. When both husband and wife were present at the time of the interview, they were interviewed separately; when only one spouse was present, he or she was interviewed. The researchers assumed that couples interviewed at the same time would provide more valid information than respondents interviewed individually, because of each spouse's assumed concern that his or her response could be verified against their spouse's reply. When the analysts compared the responses of the men and women who were interviewed without their spouse to those of the couples, they found that both men and women interviewed when their part-