Recall Length and Measurement Error in Agricultural Surveys

This paper assesses the relationship between the length of recall and nonrandom error in agricultural survey data. Using data from the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture in Malawi and Tanzania, th...

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Main Authors:	Wollburg, Philip, Tiberti, Marco, Zezza, Alberto
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:	AGRICULTURE MEASUREMENT RECALL SURVEY DESIGN SURVEY METHODS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT STUDY
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/480391580307558702/Recall-Length-and-Measurement-Error-in-Agricultural-Surveys http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33264

id	okr-10986-33264
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-332642022-09-20T00:13:56Z Recall Length and Measurement Error in Agricultural Surveys Wollburg, Philip Tiberti, Marco Zezza, Alberto AGRICULTURE MEASUREMENT RECALL SURVEY DESIGN SURVEY METHODS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT STUDY This paper assesses the relationship between the length of recall and nonrandom error in agricultural survey data. Using data from the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture in Malawi and Tanzania, the paper shows that key input and output variables are systematically related to the length of the recall period, indicating the presence of nonrandom measurement error. With longer recall periods, farmers report greater quantities of harvest, labor, and fertilizer inputs. Farmers list fewer plots as the recall period increases. The paper argues that it is plausible that farmers overestimate plot-level outcomes, or they forget some of their more marginal plots due to longer recall periods. The analysis also finds evidence of measurement error related to the length of recall in common measures of agricultural productivity. The size of the recall effect typically varies between 2 and 5 percent per additional month of recall length, which is economically significant. With data reliability affecting policy effectiveness, improving agricultural survey data quality remains an important concern. Mainstreaming objective measures where possible and reducing the risk of recall error through shorter recall periods appear to be promising avenues to improve the quality of key variables in agricultural surveys. 2020-01-30T20:24:39Z 2020-01-30T20:24:39Z 2020-01 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/480391580307558702/Recall-Length-and-Measurement-Error-in-Agricultural-Surveys http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33264 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9128 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Malawi Tanzania
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	AGRICULTURE MEASUREMENT RECALL SURVEY DESIGN SURVEY METHODS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT STUDY
spellingShingle	AGRICULTURE MEASUREMENT RECALL SURVEY DESIGN SURVEY METHODS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT STUDY Wollburg, Philip Tiberti, Marco Zezza, Alberto Recall Length and Measurement Error in Agricultural Surveys
geographic_facet	Africa Malawi Tanzania
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9128
description	This paper assesses the relationship between the length of recall and nonrandom error in agricultural survey data. Using data from the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture in Malawi and Tanzania, the paper shows that key input and output variables are systematically related to the length of the recall period, indicating the presence of nonrandom measurement error. With longer recall periods, farmers report greater quantities of harvest, labor, and fertilizer inputs. Farmers list fewer plots as the recall period increases. The paper argues that it is plausible that farmers overestimate plot-level outcomes, or they forget some of their more marginal plots due to longer recall periods. The analysis also finds evidence of measurement error related to the length of recall in common measures of agricultural productivity. The size of the recall effect typically varies between 2 and 5 percent per additional month of recall length, which is economically significant. With data reliability affecting policy effectiveness, improving agricultural survey data quality remains an important concern. Mainstreaming objective measures where possible and reducing the risk of recall error through shorter recall periods appear to be promising avenues to improve the quality of key variables in agricultural surveys.
format	Working Paper
author	Wollburg, Philip Tiberti, Marco Zezza, Alberto
author_facet	Wollburg, Philip Tiberti, Marco Zezza, Alberto
author_sort	Wollburg, Philip
title	Recall Length and Measurement Error in Agricultural Surveys
title_short	Recall Length and Measurement Error in Agricultural Surveys
title_full	Recall Length and Measurement Error in Agricultural Surveys
title_fullStr	Recall Length and Measurement Error in Agricultural Surveys
title_full_unstemmed	Recall Length and Measurement Error in Agricultural Surveys
title_sort	recall length and measurement error in agricultural surveys
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2020
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/480391580307558702/Recall-Length-and-Measurement-Error-in-Agricultural-Surveys http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33264
_version_	1764478350934409216

Recall Length and Measurement Error in Agricultural Surveys

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