Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from Malawi
Recall biases in retrospective survey data are widely considered to be pervasive and have important implications for effective agricultural research. In this paper, we leverage the survey design literature and test three strategies to attenuate mental anchoring in retrospective data collection: ques...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
International Food Policy Research Institute
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143409 |
| _version_ | 1855531627863605248 |
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| author | Godlonton, Susan Hernandez, Manuel A. Paz, Cynthia |
| author_browse | Godlonton, Susan Hernandez, Manuel A. Paz, Cynthia |
| author_facet | Godlonton, Susan Hernandez, Manuel A. Paz, Cynthia |
| author_sort | Godlonton, Susan |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Recall biases in retrospective survey data are widely considered to be pervasive and have important implications for effective agricultural research. In this paper, we leverage the survey design literature and test three strategies to attenuate mental anchoring in retrospective data collection: question order effects, retrieval cues, and aggregate (community) anchoring. We embed a survey design experiment in a longitudinal survey of smallholder farmers in Malawi and focus on anchoring bias in maize production and happiness exploiting differences between recalled and concurrent responses. We find that asking for retrospective data before concurrent data reduces recall bias by approximately 34% for maize production, a meaningful improvement with no increase in survey data collection costs. Retrieval cues are less successful in reducing the bias for maize reports and involve more data collection time, while community anchors can exacerbate the bias. Reversing the order of questions and retrieval cues do not help to ease the bias for happiness reports. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace143409 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1434092025-12-02T21:03:03Z Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from Malawi Godlonton, Susan Hernandez, Manuel A. Paz, Cynthia surveys farmers crops maize smallholders survey design Recall biases in retrospective survey data are widely considered to be pervasive and have important implications for effective agricultural research. In this paper, we leverage the survey design literature and test three strategies to attenuate mental anchoring in retrospective data collection: question order effects, retrieval cues, and aggregate (community) anchoring. We embed a survey design experiment in a longitudinal survey of smallholder farmers in Malawi and focus on anchoring bias in maize production and happiness exploiting differences between recalled and concurrent responses. We find that asking for retrospective data before concurrent data reduces recall bias by approximately 34% for maize production, a meaningful improvement with no increase in survey data collection costs. Retrieval cues are less successful in reducing the bias for maize reports and involve more data collection time, while community anchors can exacerbate the bias. Reversing the order of questions and retrieval cues do not help to ease the bias for happiness reports. 2021-11-03 2024-05-22T12:13:55Z 2024-05-22T12:13:55Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143409 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146341 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134161 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147824 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134381 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Godlonton, Susan; Hernandez, Manuel A.; and Paz, Cynthia. 2021. Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from Malawi. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2055. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134735. |
| spellingShingle | surveys farmers crops maize smallholders survey design Godlonton, Susan Hernandez, Manuel A. Paz, Cynthia Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from Malawi |
| title | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from Malawi |
| title_full | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from Malawi |
| title_fullStr | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from Malawi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from Malawi |
| title_short | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from Malawi |
| title_sort | can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data evidence from malawi |
| topic | surveys farmers crops maize smallholders survey design |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143409 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT godlontonsusan cansurveydesignreduceanchoringbiasinrecalldataevidencefrommalawi AT hernandezmanuela cansurveydesignreduceanchoringbiasinrecalldataevidencefrommalawi AT pazcynthia cansurveydesignreduceanchoringbiasinrecalldataevidencefrommalawi |