Abstract
Frederick G. Conrad, Norman, R. Brown, and Erin R. Cashman
(1993) "How the Memorability of Events
Affects Frequency Judgments", Proceedings of the 48th
Annual Conference of the American Association of Public Opinion
Research, American Statistical Association, forthcoming.
In this study we examine the influence of event regularity
and distinctiveness on the strategies and time used to answer
ten behavioral frequency questions. Telephone interviewers
asked 106 respondents, drawn from a national sample, to
report a frequency for each event (behavior), describe their
thinking, and then rate the events for regularity and
similarity. Four major response strategies emerged and each
was associated with events of different regularity and
distinctiveness: event enumeration, rate estimation,
known-rate responding, and impression-based responding. Event
enumeration and rate estimation were associated with
irregularly occurring and distinctive events; known-rate and
impression-based responding were observed for more regularly
occurring and similar events. Evidence that distinct
processes are involved comes from a relationship between the
reported frequency and the time to produce that report for
the first two strategies, but not for the second two.
Retrieving and enumerating events takes more time as the
number of events increases; the time required to recall a
known rate or form an impression should not vary with event
frequency. Enumeration versus known-rate responding was also
evident for frequency reports of zero. The results dramatize
the consequences of event characteristics for how frequency
reports are produced.
Last Modified Date: July 19, 2008
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