Rural labor and long recall loss

Commonly used data collection practices use annual recall to capture individuals’ labor activities over a year. However, long recall periods are likely to suffer from distortions and loss, particularly when work patterns are seasonal and informal. In a panel of rural households in Malawi, we use a s...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ambler, Kate, Herskowitz, Sylvan, Maredia, Mywish K.
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143787
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author Ambler, Kate
Herskowitz, Sylvan
Maredia, Mywish K.
author_browse Ambler, Kate
Herskowitz, Sylvan
Maredia, Mywish K.
author_facet Ambler, Kate
Herskowitz, Sylvan
Maredia, Mywish K.
author_sort Ambler, Kate
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Commonly used data collection practices use annual recall to capture individuals’ labor activities over a year. However, long recall periods are likely to suffer from distortions and loss, particularly when work patterns are seasonal and informal. In a panel of rural households in Malawi, we use a survey experiment to test the effect of using long recall periods on the reported number of labor activities, labor supply, and types of work relative to those resulting from a set of shorter, quarterly interviews. We document large losses from the longer recall window, particularly on the extensive margin of labor supply with reductions of over 20%. These losses are greatest for periods furthest from the last survey round and are especially large among individuals whose labor supply is being reported for them, reaching as high as 50% losses for some outcomes. The composition of households’ primary respondents, predominantly male and older, as well as differential effects by age both suggest that use of long recall may lead to meaningful biases by both age and gender in resulting data. Details
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spelling CGSpace1437872025-12-08T10:26:25Z Rural labor and long recall loss Ambler, Kate Herskowitz, Sylvan Maredia, Mywish K. surveys employment labour rural areas seasonality Commonly used data collection practices use annual recall to capture individuals’ labor activities over a year. However, long recall periods are likely to suffer from distortions and loss, particularly when work patterns are seasonal and informal. In a panel of rural households in Malawi, we use a survey experiment to test the effect of using long recall periods on the reported number of labor activities, labor supply, and types of work relative to those resulting from a set of shorter, quarterly interviews. We document large losses from the longer recall window, particularly on the extensive margin of labor supply with reductions of over 20%. These losses are greatest for periods furthest from the last survey round and are especially large among individuals whose labor supply is being reported for them, reaching as high as 50% losses for some outcomes. The composition of households’ primary respondents, predominantly male and older, as well as differential effects by age both suggest that use of long recall may lead to meaningful biases by both age and gender in resulting data. Details 2021-12-27 2024-05-22T12:16:53Z 2024-05-22T12:16:53Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143787 en https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134905 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134913 Open Access Ambler, Kate; Herskowitz, Sylvan; and Maredia, Mywish K. 2021. Rural labor and long recall loss. Michigan State University Staff Paper Series 2021-001. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University. https://purl.umn.edu/316616
spellingShingle surveys
employment
labour
rural areas
seasonality
Ambler, Kate
Herskowitz, Sylvan
Maredia, Mywish K.
Rural labor and long recall loss
title Rural labor and long recall loss
title_full Rural labor and long recall loss
title_fullStr Rural labor and long recall loss
title_full_unstemmed Rural labor and long recall loss
title_short Rural labor and long recall loss
title_sort rural labor and long recall loss
topic surveys
employment
labour
rural areas
seasonality
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143787
work_keys_str_mv AT amblerkate rurallaborandlongrecallloss
AT herskowitzsylvan rurallaborandlongrecallloss
AT marediamywishk rurallaborandlongrecallloss