How Accurate Are Survey Measurements of Objective Phenomena?
Lisanne Wichgers, Linchiat Chang, David Chapman, Elizabeth Elder, Jon Krosnick, Matt Berent, Amanda Scott, Elaine Albertson, Elizabeth QuinlanAbstract
How accurate are survey measurements of phenomena that can be objectively verified? This article reports a review of various types of evidence assessing accuracy (vs. benchmarks not derived from self-reports) across a wide spectrum of content areas, including demographics, healthcare, labor force statistics, substance use and more. The vast majority of measurements were accurate, according to three assessment methods. Individual respondents’ self-reports closely matched objective records of the same phenomena for the same individual. Small aggregate differences were observed between survey sample means and aggregate means derived from objective records. Self-reports correlated strongly with measures of the same attributes of those individuals from secondary data not based on self-reports. Taken together, the evidence suggests that survey measurements of objective phenomena are highly accurate.