Retrospective Surveys: Some Experiences in the Context of Measuring Life-Cycle Events.

Author(s)
Verhoeven, M. Arentze, T.A. Timmermans, H.J. & Waerden, P.J. van der
Year
Abstract

Data on lifecycle events are difficult and expensive to collect using (pseudo-) panels. Retrospective surveys which asked respondents to recall events, may constitute a valuable alternative. This paper reports on our experiences with the design and implementation of an Internet-based retrospective survey. Because the value of retrospective surveys will depend on the salience of the events, influencing the memory trace and retrievability of the event, a statistical analysis was conducted to examine the effect of age, cohort and time elapsed between event occurrence and event reporting. Results suggest that although retrospective surveys are not error-free, respondents' ability to recall major lifecycle events and report some of their key attributes is satisfactory. These findings imply that retrospective surveys constitute a valuable and cheap alternative to collecting data on the sequence of lifetrajectory events.

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Publication

Library number
C 44295 (In: C 43862 CD-ROM) /71 / ITRD E842609
Source

In: Compendium of papers CD-ROM 87th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board TRB, Washington, D.C., January 13-17, 2008, 17 p.

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This publication is one of our other publications, and part of our extensive collection of road safety literature, that also includes the SWOV publications.