Cognitive Aspects of Survey Methodology

Building a Bridge Between Disciplines

Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 9780309077842
eISBN Pdf: 9780309591799
Place of publication: United States
Year of digital publication: 1984
Month: January
Pages: 189
Language: English

Cognitive Aspects of Survey Methodology: Building a Bridge Between Disciplines
Copyright
Contents
PREFACE
CHAPTER 1THE SEMINAR
- BACKGROUND
- INTRODUCTION
- SURVEYS AS A VEHICLE FOR COGNITIVE RESEARCH
  - Collection of Survey Data on Cognitive Abilities
  - Other Proposed Surveys
  - Surveys as Cognitive Experiments
  - Surveys as a Paradigm for Research
  - Summary
- IMPROVING SURVEY METHODS
  - General Strategies
  - Relevant Research from the Cognitive Sciences
  - Methodologial Issues and Research Proposals
    - Comprehension
    - Recall
    - Judgment
    - Interviewer Behavior
    - The Interview Situation
  - Tools for Methodological Research
- ISSUES FOR THE NATIONAL HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY
  - Utilization
  - Conditions
  - Restricted Activity
  - Self-Perception of Health
- TRANSLATING IDEAS INTO ACTION
CHAPTER 2 AFTER THE SEMINAR
- LABORATORY-BASED RESEARCH ON THE COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF SURVEY METHODOLOGY
  - Purpose and Objectives
  - Benefits
  - Collaborative Arrangements
  - Work Plan
  - Survey Instrument Development
    - Developing the First Draft of the NHIS Supplement
    - Testing the First Draft of the NHIS Supplement
    - Testing the Field Pretest Draft of the NHIS Supplement
  - Specific Cognitive Issues
    - Telescoping
    - Conditioning
    - Perceptions of Confidentiality
- COGNITIVE PROCESSES IN SURVEY RESPONDING: PROJECT SUMMARIES
  - NORC Research Program
  - Yale Research Program
  - University of Chicago Research Program
- THE INTERSECTION OF PERSONAL AND NATIONAL HISTORY
  - What Population Would be Studied and How
  - The Questions
    - Initial Frame of Reference
    - Significance of Events
    - Personal Connections
    - Opinions of the Past
    - Secular Societal Trends
    - Background Questions
  - Contributions of the Research
  - References
- A PROPOSAL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATIONAL MEMORY INVENTORY
  - Memory and Memory “Tests”
  - A Short Description of the Battery
    - Part A
    - Part B
    - Criteria for the Selection of Tasks
    - General Characteristics of the Battery
  - Procedures of Data Collection and Analysis
    - Identification of Indicators
    - Data Collection
    - Population Determination
    - Distributional Analysis
  - The Memory Battery: Instructions, Materials, and Tests
    - Part A
    - Part B
  - References
- PROTOCOL ANALYSIS OF RESPONSES TO SURVEY RECALL QUESTIONS
  - Experimental Project: Protocol Analysis
  - Order of Retrieval in Free Recall of Autobiographical Material
  - References
- THOUGHTS AND RESEARCH ON ESTIMATES ABOUT PAST AND FUTURE BEHAVIOR
  - The Strategy and Tactics of Survey Methodology as They Pertain to Determining Past Actions and Outcomes
  - Research on “Past” and “Future” Behavioral Estimates for Self and Other
- OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
APPENDIX A BACKGROUND PAPERS
- COGNITIVE SCIENCES AND SURVEY METHODS
  - The Respondent's Task
  - Comprehension
    - Top-Down Processing
    - Bottom-Up Processing
    - The Importance of Prior Knowledge and Context
    - Implications for Survey Methods
    - Oral Presentation
  - Retrieval
    - Episodic Versus Semantic Memory
    - Memory as an Associative Network
    - Retrieval as Reconstruction
    - Sources of Forgetting
    - Aids to Memory
    - What Can We Remember?
  - Judgment
    - Information Integration Theory
    - Judgmental Heuristics
    - Types of Questions
    - Implications for Survey Research
    - Attitude Questions
  - Response
    - Response Selection
    - Reporting Biases
  - Survey Research as Cognitive Laboratory
    - Forgetting
    - Optimism
  - References
- POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF COGNITIVE RESEARCH TO SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
  - Conceptual Model of Response Effects
  - Conceptual Model for Human Information Processing
  - Some Differences Between Survey and Cognitive Research Traditions
  - Applying Cognitive Research to the Study of Response Effects
    - Question Wording
    - Response Categories
    - Contextual Meaning
    - Time and Frequency
  - Conclusion
  - References
- RECORD CHECKS FOR SAMPLE SURVEYS
  - Basic Logic of Record Checks
  - Illustrations of Record-Check Inferences About Net Survey Response Bias
    - Illustration 1: Bias Estimates From Partial Designs are Too Large Because the Estimators Use the Wrong Denominator
    - Illustration 2: Estimates From Partial Designs Can Yield the Wrong Sign for the Survey Bias
    - Illustration 3: Partial Design Estimates Overstate the Size of the Net Survey Bias in the Presence of Match Errors
    - Illustration 4: The Combined Effects
  - Record-Check Estimates of Reporting Errors in Health Surveys
    - Hospital Stay Reporting Biases
    - Physician Visit Reporting Biases
    - Reporting Biases for Other Variables
  - Implications for Future Research
  - References
APPENDIX B DESIGNING AND BUILDING THE BRIDGE
- PREPARING FOR THE SEMINAR
- THE ST. MICHAELS MEETING
- FOLLOW-UP: THE BALTIMORE MEETING
APPENDIX C BACKGROUND MATERIALS FOR THE SEMINAR
APPENDIX D BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PARTICIPANTS
INDEX