Reliability of Recall in Agricultural Data
Despite the importance of agriculture to economic development, and a vast accompanying literature on the subject, little research has been done on the quality of the underlying data. Due to survey logistics, agricultural data are usually collected...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110602154552 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3434 |
| Summary: | Despite the importance of agriculture to
economic development, and a vast accompanying literature on
the subject, little research has been done on the quality of
the underlying data. Due to survey logistics, agricultural
data are usually collected by asking respondents to recall
the details of events occurring during past agricultural
seasons that took place a number of months prior to the
interview. This gap can lead to recall bias in reported data
on agricultural activities. The problem is further
complicated when interviews are conducted over the course of
several months, thus leading to recall of variable length.
To test for such recall bias, the length of time between
harvest and interview is examined for three African
countries with respect to several common agricultural input
and harvest measures. The analysis shows little evidence of
recall bias impacting data quality. There is some indication
that more salient events are less subject to recall decay.
Overall, the results allay some concerns about the quality
of some types of agricultural data collected through recall
over lengthy periods. |
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