Forgetting to remember or remembering to forget: A study of the recall period length in health care survey questions

• Published in: Journal of health economics Vol. 35; no. Feb 7; pp. 34 - 46
• Main Authors: Kjellsson, Gustav, Clarke, Philip, Gerdtham, Ulf-G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-05-2014; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Bias; Comparative analysis; Design engineering; Economics; Education; Epidemiologic Research Design; Exposure; Female; Health; Health administration; Health care; Health care industry; Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy; Health Care Surveys - standards; Health Care Surveys - statistics & numerical data; Health Sciences; Health survey; Hospitalization; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisation, hälsopolitik och hälsoekonomi; Hälsovetenskap; Male; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Mental Recall; Middle Aged; Models, Statistical; Recall; Recall error; Recall errors; Recall periods; Registries - statistics & numerical data; Regression Analysis; Self Report; Studies; Survey methods; Time Factors; Young Adult; C42; Survey methods; Recall periods; Health survey; I10; Hospitalization; C83; Recall error
• ISSN: 0167-6296; 1879-1646; 1879-1646
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2014.01.007

•We explore how recall period length affects recall error of self-reported hospitalization.•A survey experiment assigns 6999 respondents to a recall period of one, three, six, or twelve months.•Results show that the preferred recall period length depends on the objective of the survey.•For an aggregated data analysis, a longer period implies more information and lower bias.•For a micro data analysis, a longer period implies more information but potentially larger bias.
Self-reported data on health care use is a key input in a range of studies. However, the length of recall period in self-reported health care questions varies between surveys, and this variation may affect the results of the studies. This study uses a large survey experiment to examine the role of the length of recall periods for the quality of self-reported hospitalization data by comparing registered with self-reported hospitalizations of respondents exposed to recall periods of one, three, six, or twelve months. Our findings have conflicting implications for survey design, as the preferred length of recall period depends on the objective of the analysis. For an aggregated measure of hospitalization, longer recall periods are preferred. For analysis oriented more to the micro-level, shorter recall periods may be considered since the association between individual characteristics (e.g., education) and recall error increases with the length of the recall period.