How Accurate Are Recall Data? Evidence from Coastal India

This paper investigates the accuracy of recall data by comparing administrative records with retrospective, self-reported survey responses to income and asset questions for a sample of self-employed households from coastal India. It finds that the...

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Main Authors:	de Nicola, Francesca, Gine, Xavier
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE ERRORS ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS ATTENTION BENCHMARK BOOTSTRAP BOUNDED RATIONALITY BUSINESS OWNERS COGNITION COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY COGNITIVE SCIENCE CONSUMER FINANCE CONSUMER FINANCES DEBTS DEPOSITS DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY DOWRY DURABLE GOODS EARNINGS EARNINGS DISTRIBUTION ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS ECONOMIC STATISTICS EDUCATED WOMEN EMPLOYER ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS EQUATIONS EXPENDITURES FARMERS FINANCIAL ASSETS GENDER GENDER DIFFERENCE GENDER DIFFERENCES HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLDS HUSBAND HUSBANDS INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME DYNAMICS INCOME FLUCTUATIONS INCOME MEASURES INDIAN RUPEES INEQUALITY INFERENCE INTERNATIONAL BANK KURTOSIS LABOR MARKET LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION LINEAR REGRESSION LOAN MEMORY MERCHANTS MICRO ENTREPRENEURS MISREPORTING MISSING OBSERVATIONS MONETARY VALUE MONEYLENDERS MORBIDITY OUTLIERS PER CAPITA INCOME PERSONALITY POOLING PRECISION PREDICTION PROBABILITY PSYCHOLOGY RECALL RELIABILITY SAVINGS SELF-EMPLOYMENT SKEWNESS SOCIAL SECURITY SOURCE OF INCOME SOURCE OF INFORMATION SOURCES OF INCOME STANDARD DEVIATION STANDARD ERRORS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS UNEMPLOYMENT VALIDITY VARIABILITY VILLAGE VILLAGES VOLATILITY WAGES WEALTH
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/03/15965088/accurate-recall-data-evidence-coastal-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19872

id	okr-10986-19872
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-198722021-04-23T14:03:52Z How Accurate Are Recall Data? Evidence from Coastal India de Nicola, Francesca Gine, Xavier ABSOLUTE ERRORS ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS ATTENTION BENCHMARK BOOTSTRAP BOUNDED RATIONALITY BUSINESS OWNERS COGNITION COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY COGNITIVE SCIENCE CONSUMER FINANCE CONSUMER FINANCES DEBTS DEPOSITS DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY DOWRY DURABLE GOODS EARNINGS EARNINGS DISTRIBUTION ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS ECONOMIC STATISTICS EDUCATED WOMEN EMPLOYER ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS EQUATIONS EXPENDITURES FARMERS FINANCIAL ASSETS GENDER GENDER DIFFERENCE GENDER DIFFERENCES HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLDS HUSBAND HUSBANDS INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME DYNAMICS INCOME FLUCTUATIONS INCOME MEASURES INDIAN RUPEES INEQUALITY INFERENCE INTERNATIONAL BANK KURTOSIS LABOR MARKET LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION LINEAR REGRESSION LOAN MEMORY MERCHANTS MICRO ENTREPRENEURS MISREPORTING MISSING OBSERVATIONS MONETARY VALUE MONEYLENDERS MORBIDITY OUTLIERS PER CAPITA INCOME PERSONALITY POOLING PRECISION PREDICTION PROBABILITY PSYCHOLOGY RECALL RELIABILITY SAVINGS SELF-EMPLOYMENT SKEWNESS SOCIAL SECURITY SOURCE OF INCOME SOURCE OF INFORMATION SOURCES OF INCOME STANDARD DEVIATION STANDARD ERRORS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS UNEMPLOYMENT VALIDITY VARIABILITY VILLAGE VILLAGES VOLATILITY WAGES WEALTH This paper investigates the accuracy of recall data by comparing administrative records with retrospective, self-reported survey responses to income and asset questions for a sample of self-employed households from coastal India. It finds that the magnitude of the recall error increases over time, in part because respondents rely less on memory and instead infer earnings based on past earnings. Individuals tend to recall monthly earnings more accurately when they are higher than the median. These results imply that the variance estimated from the self-reported earnings distribution will be lower than the real one. The paper also finds that data reported by income earners are more accurate than those by their wives. In addition, the use of time cues can worsen accuracy if they are not relevant to the respondent. Where the recall questions are placed in the two-hour long survey, however, does not affect accuracy. 2014-08-29T18:34:53Z 2014-08-29T18:34:53Z 2012-03 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/03/15965088/accurate-recall-data-evidence-coastal-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19872 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6009 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research South Asia India
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	ABSOLUTE ERRORS ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS ATTENTION BENCHMARK BOOTSTRAP BOUNDED RATIONALITY BUSINESS OWNERS COGNITION COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY COGNITIVE SCIENCE CONSUMER FINANCE CONSUMER FINANCES DEBTS DEPOSITS DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY DOWRY DURABLE GOODS EARNINGS EARNINGS DISTRIBUTION ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS ECONOMIC STATISTICS EDUCATED WOMEN EMPLOYER ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS EQUATIONS EXPENDITURES FARMERS FINANCIAL ASSETS GENDER GENDER DIFFERENCE GENDER DIFFERENCES HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLDS HUSBAND HUSBANDS INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME DYNAMICS INCOME FLUCTUATIONS INCOME MEASURES INDIAN RUPEES INEQUALITY INFERENCE INTERNATIONAL BANK KURTOSIS LABOR MARKET LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION LINEAR REGRESSION LOAN MEMORY MERCHANTS MICRO ENTREPRENEURS MISREPORTING MISSING OBSERVATIONS MONETARY VALUE MONEYLENDERS MORBIDITY OUTLIERS PER CAPITA INCOME PERSONALITY POOLING PRECISION PREDICTION PROBABILITY PSYCHOLOGY RECALL RELIABILITY SAVINGS SELF-EMPLOYMENT SKEWNESS SOCIAL SECURITY SOURCE OF INCOME SOURCE OF INFORMATION SOURCES OF INCOME STANDARD DEVIATION STANDARD ERRORS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS UNEMPLOYMENT VALIDITY VARIABILITY VILLAGE VILLAGES VOLATILITY WAGES WEALTH
spellingShingle	ABSOLUTE ERRORS ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS ATTENTION BENCHMARK BOOTSTRAP BOUNDED RATIONALITY BUSINESS OWNERS COGNITION COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY COGNITIVE SCIENCE CONSUMER FINANCE CONSUMER FINANCES DEBTS DEPOSITS DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY DOWRY DURABLE GOODS EARNINGS EARNINGS DISTRIBUTION ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS ECONOMIC STATISTICS EDUCATED WOMEN EMPLOYER ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS EQUATIONS EXPENDITURES FARMERS FINANCIAL ASSETS GENDER GENDER DIFFERENCE GENDER DIFFERENCES HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLDS HUSBAND HUSBANDS INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME DYNAMICS INCOME FLUCTUATIONS INCOME MEASURES INDIAN RUPEES INEQUALITY INFERENCE INTERNATIONAL BANK KURTOSIS LABOR MARKET LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION LINEAR REGRESSION LOAN MEMORY MERCHANTS MICRO ENTREPRENEURS MISREPORTING MISSING OBSERVATIONS MONETARY VALUE MONEYLENDERS MORBIDITY OUTLIERS PER CAPITA INCOME PERSONALITY POOLING PRECISION PREDICTION PROBABILITY PSYCHOLOGY RECALL RELIABILITY SAVINGS SELF-EMPLOYMENT SKEWNESS SOCIAL SECURITY SOURCE OF INCOME SOURCE OF INFORMATION SOURCES OF INCOME STANDARD DEVIATION STANDARD ERRORS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS UNEMPLOYMENT VALIDITY VARIABILITY VILLAGE VILLAGES VOLATILITY WAGES WEALTH de Nicola, Francesca Gine, Xavier How Accurate Are Recall Data? Evidence from Coastal India
geographic_facet	South Asia India
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6009
description	This paper investigates the accuracy of recall data by comparing administrative records with retrospective, self-reported survey responses to income and asset questions for a sample of self-employed households from coastal India. It finds that the magnitude of the recall error increases over time, in part because respondents rely less on memory and instead infer earnings based on past earnings. Individuals tend to recall monthly earnings more accurately when they are higher than the median. These results imply that the variance estimated from the self-reported earnings distribution will be lower than the real one. The paper also finds that data reported by income earners are more accurate than those by their wives. In addition, the use of time cues can worsen accuracy if they are not relevant to the respondent. Where the recall questions are placed in the two-hour long survey, however, does not affect accuracy.
format	Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author	de Nicola, Francesca Gine, Xavier
author_facet	de Nicola, Francesca Gine, Xavier
author_sort	de Nicola, Francesca
title	How Accurate Are Recall Data? Evidence from Coastal India
title_short	How Accurate Are Recall Data? Evidence from Coastal India
title_full	How Accurate Are Recall Data? Evidence from Coastal India
title_fullStr	How Accurate Are Recall Data? Evidence from Coastal India
title_full_unstemmed	How Accurate Are Recall Data? Evidence from Coastal India
title_sort	how accurate are recall data? evidence from coastal india
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2014
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/03/15965088/accurate-recall-data-evidence-coastal-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19872
_version_	1764443990596255744

How Accurate Are Recall Data? Evidence from Coastal India

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