Cognitive Aspects of Survey Measurement and Mismeasurement

In: International journal of public opinion research, Band 15, Heft 1, S. 3-7

Abstract

During the past 20 years, survey methodology has undergone a paradigm shift. The old paradigm was based on a statistical model that focused on the effects of survey errors on the estimates derived from survey data. The new paradigm is based on a social scientific model that focuses on the causes of survey errors. Several developments have helped bring about this shift -- the application of methods & concepts from cognitive psychology to the reduction of survey measurement error, the development of new computerized methods of data collection, & the increase in concern about measurement & nonresponse as sources of error in survey estimates. The new paradigm has little to say about the topics, such as sampling error, that were central to the old one; similarly, the old paradigm had little to say about how to reduce or prevent errors, a major concern for the new one. Thus, the two paradigms do not clash so much as complement each other. 17 References. Adapted from the source document.