Definition
Self-report bias is the deviation between the self-reported and true values of the same measure. The bias is a type of measurement error that may be random or systematic and constant or variable. It can mislead descriptive statistics and causal inferences.
Description
Self-report bias is a type of measurement error that can occur in any context where random or systematic misreporting is conceivable. The bias is ubiquitous in survey data where cognitive processes, social desirability, and survey conditions can alter interviewee’s responses (Bound, Brown, & Mathiowetz, 2001). It occurs even in seemingly innocuous self-reported information, such as age, and is frequently found in sensitive questions, such as body weight and mental health. The bias can also occur in administrative data if there is potential for misreporting.
The potential of misreporting to induce bias in a cross-sectional or...
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References
Bauhoff, S. (2011). Systematic self-report bias in health data: Impact on estimating cross-sectional and treatment effects. Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, 11(1–2), 44–53. http://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10742-011-0069-3?LI=true
Bound, J., Brown, C., & Mathiowetz, N. (2001). Measurement error in survey data. In J. J. Heckman & E. Leamer (Eds.), Handbook of econometrics (Vol. 5, pp. 3705–3843). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Ezzati, M., Martin, H., Skjold, S., Hoorn, S. V., & Murray, C. J. L. (2006). Trends in national and state-level obesity in the USA after correction for self-report bias: Analysis of health surveys. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 99, 250–257. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1457748/
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Bauhoff, S. (2014). Self-Report Bias in Estimating Cross-Sectional and Treatment Effects. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_4046
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