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Limitations and biases associated with self-report in general. Despite the importance of self-reports, some important general limitations to the methodology do exist. Participants are usually quite confident in their own ability to recall (Fienberg, Loftus, & Tanur, 1985 xClose
Fienberg, S.E., Loftus, E.F., & Tanur, J.M. (1985). Cognitive aspects of health survey methodology: An overview. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly: Health and Society, 63(3), 547�4.; Read, Vokey, & Hammersley, 1990 xClose
Read, J.D., Vokey, J.R., & Hammersley, R. (1990). Changing photos of faces: Effects of exposure duration and photo similarity on recognition and the accuracy-confidence relationship. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 16, 870�2.), yet a growing body of empirical evidence indicates that retrospective self-reports are susceptible to numerous errors. Research in the field of autobiographical memory suggests that the magnitude of retrospective reporting errors is significant, and can threaten the validity of the information obtained (e.g., Jobe & Mingay, 1991 xClose
Jobe, J.B., & Mingay, D.J. (1991). Cognition and survey measurement: History and overview. Applied cognitive Psychology, 5, 172-192.). Autobiographical memory refers to both specific memory of personal episodes and generic knowledge about the self (e.g., Robinson & Swanson, 1990 xClose
Robinson, J.A., & Swanson, K.L. (1990). Autobiographical memory: The next phase. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 4, 321�5.). When recalling self-relevant information, individuals may reproduce a particular incident relatively directly (episodic memory), or reconstruct this information based on more generic views of the self (semantic memory).
The recall of information is also affected by many external factors, such as time since frequency, the event抯 last occurrence, and emotions associated with the event. Recent, low frequency, emotionally laden incidents are more easily retained (White, 1989 xClose
White, R.T. (1989). Recall of autobiographical events. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 3, 127-136.) compared to other incidents that quickly fade and become hard to recall (Engle & Lumpkin, 1992 xClose
Engle, P.L. and Lumpkin, J.B., (1992). How accurate are time-use reports? Effects of cognitive enhancement and cultural differences on recall accuracy? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 6, 141-159.). Thus, one抯 annual mammogram from last month would be more easily retained than one抯 exercise behavior the previous week. Memory about the source of the information (e.g., when and/or where the incident took place) is also often confused, because specific time and location indicators are lost as similar incidents get integrated into more generic knowledge (Means, Mingay, Nigam, & Zarrow, 1988 xClose
Means, B., Mingay, D.J., Nigam, A. & Zarrow, M. (1988). A cognitive approach to enhancing health survey reports of medical visits. In M.M. Gruneberg, P.E. Morris & R.N. Sykes (Eds.), Practical aspects of memory: current research and issues (pp. 537-542). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.).
Self-reports are also subject to a range of biases, such as poor memory or inability to accurately summarize past experiences (e.g., Engle & Lumpkin, 1992 xClose
Engle, P.L. and Lumpkin, J.B., (1992). How accurate are time-use reports? Effects of cognitive enhancement and cultural differences on recall accuracy? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 6, 141-159.), current states (e.g., mood; Jobe & Mingay, 1991 xClose
Jobe, J.B., & Mingay, D.J. (1991). Cognition and survey measurement: History and overview. Applied cognitive Psychology, 5, 172-192.), frequency of events (Blair & Burton, 1987 xClose
Blair, E., & Burton, S. (1987). Processes used in the formulation of behavioral frequency reports in surveys. Proceedings of the Section on Survey Methods Research: American Statistical Association, 167-172.; Cummings, Nevitt, & Kidd, 1988 xClose
Cummings, S.R., Nevitt, M.C., & Kidd, S. (1988). Forgetting Falls: The limited accuracy of recall of falls in the elderly. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 36, 613-616.; Smith, Jobe, & Mingay, 1991 xClose
Smith, A.F., Jobe, J.B., & Mingay, D.J. (1991). Questions induced cognitive biases in reports of dietary intake in college men and women. Health Psychology, 10(4), 244-257.), and temporal information (Larsen & Thompson, 1995 xClose
Larsen, S.F., & Thompson, C.P. (1995). Reconstructive memory in the dating of personal and public news events. Memory and Cognition, 23(6), 780-790.). In the development of cancer-related measures, it might be preferred to focus on assessments of more recent versus distant past events or experiences. Similarly, obtaining reports of current states rather than past states may be more accurate. When asking participants or patients about the frequency of events, experiences, or states (e.g., "How often have you…?";) researchers should consider providing appropriate recall cues, clearly delivering the questions, and structuring interviews to probe for confusion on the part of respondents. It is also desirable to emphasize to respondents the importance of correct rather than normative responding, and to provide sufficient time and systematic strategies to rely on elaborative introspection rather than recall heuristics (that are more prone to bias).
Aside from cognitive errors arising from memory and recall strategies, there are motivational factors responsible for volitional misrepresentations. Researchers and clinicians should consider that patients often want to present themselves in a favorable manner (a social desirability bias), and that this motivation might affect the validity of self-reports. The effects of social desirability are especially pronounced when answering sensitive topics (e.g., cancer patients who continue to smoke cigarettes, patients who are not taking their medications; e.g., Smith, 1992 xClose
Smith, T.W. (1992). A methodological analysis of the sexual behavior questions on the General Social Surveys. Journal of Official Statistics, 8(3), 309-325.) or when self-reports are obtained in a public (as oppose to private and/or confidential) context (e.g., Rasinski, Baldwin, Willis & Jobe, 1994 xClose
Rasinski, K.A., Baldwin, A.K., Willis, G.B., & Jobe, J.B. (1994). Risk and loss perceptions associated with survey reporting of sensitive behaviors. In Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods of the American Statistical Association (pp. 497-502). Washington, DC: The American Statistical Association.). Secondary gain is another source of volitional misrepresentations. Secondary gain refers to external and incidental advantages derived from behaviors and/or illness (e.g., rest, gifts, personal attention, release from responsibility, disability benefits). In short, those who can gain benefits by misrepresenting their state of affairs may willfully choose to do so. Social stigma is associated with severe social disapproval, and thus people may choose to avoid discussing behaviors or illnesses that are stigmatized out of fear that the information may be disclosed (Jones & Forrest, 1992 xClose
Jones, E.F., & Forrest, J.D. (1992). Underreporting of abortion in surveys of U. S. Women: 1976 to 1988. Demography, 29, 113-126.). It is vital to provide and emphasize confidentiality, and to boost motivation, in order to obtain honest and open responses under these circumstances.
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