Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Malawi
Recall biases in retrospective self-reported survey data have important implications for empirical research. We leverage the survey design literature and test three strategies to attenuate mental anchoring in retrospective data collection: question ordering, retrieval cues and aggregate (community)...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2024
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/163242 |
| _version_ | 1855528786743787520 |
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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 self-reported survey data have important implications for empirical research. We leverage the survey design literature and test three strategies to attenuate mental anchoring in retrospective data collection: question ordering, retrieval cues and aggregate (community) anchoring. We focus on maize production and happiness reports among smallholder farmers in Malawi. Asking for retrospective before concurrent data on average reduces recall bias (i.e. the deviation of the recalled versus the concurrent outcome reported in the previous period) by 34 per cent for maize production, a meaningful improvement with no increase in data collection costs. Retrieval cues are less successful and community anchors can exacerbate the bias. None of the strategies help to ease the recall bias for happiness reports. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace163242 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| publisherStr | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1632422025-10-26T12:53:00Z Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Malawi Godlonton, Susan Hernandez, Manuel A. Paz, Cynthia survey design data collection maize smallholders agriculture Recall biases in retrospective self-reported survey data have important implications for empirical research. We leverage the survey design literature and test three strategies to attenuate mental anchoring in retrospective data collection: question ordering, retrieval cues and aggregate (community) anchoring. We focus on maize production and happiness reports among smallholder farmers in Malawi. Asking for retrospective before concurrent data on average reduces recall bias (i.e. the deviation of the recalled versus the concurrent outcome reported in the previous period) by 34 per cent for maize production, a meaningful improvement with no increase in data collection costs. Retrieval cues are less successful and community anchors can exacerbate the bias. None of the strategies help to ease the recall bias for happiness reports. 2024-12-31 2024-12-09T21:11:11Z 2024-12-09T21:11:11Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/163242 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143409 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146341 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134161 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154278 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147824 Open Access Oxford University Press Godlonton, Susan; Hernandez, Manuel A.; and Paz, Cynthia. 2024. European Review of Agricultural Economics 51(4): 1129–1167. https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbae026 |
| spellingShingle | survey design data collection maize smallholders agriculture Godlonton, Susan Hernandez, Manuel A. Paz, Cynthia Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Malawi |
| title | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Malawi |
| title_full | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Malawi |
| title_fullStr | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Malawi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Malawi |
| title_short | Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Malawi |
| title_sort | can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data evidence from smallholder farmers in malawi |
| topic | survey design data collection maize smallholders agriculture |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/163242 |
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