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Blurred memory, deliberate misreporting, or “true tales”? How different survey methods affect respondents’ reports of partnership status at first birth

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  • Michaela R. Kreyenfeld

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Sonja Bastin

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

Abstract

This paper examines the reliability of biographical information gathered retrospectively. It draws on data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), which collected information on the partnership status at first birth using two different methods. The first method is based on data on partnership and fertility histories collected retrospectively. The second method uses data gathered through the use of a “landmark question” on the respondents’ partnership status when their first children were born. We find that in almost 20 percent of the cases, the information collected using the first method did not correspond with the information collected using the second method. Partnership dissolution and “turbulence” in the partnership biography are strong predictors for discrepancies in the information gathered through the two different survey methods. We conclude by drawing attention to the limitations of the retrospective collection of partnership histories at a time when divorce and separation rates are increasing.

Suggested Citation

  • Michaela R. Kreyenfeld & Sonja Bastin, 2013. "Blurred memory, deliberate misreporting, or “true tales”? How different survey methods affect respondents’ reports of partnership status at first birth," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2013-017, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2013-017
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2013-017
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    1. Kreyenfeld, Michaela & Huinink, Johannes & Trappe, Heike & Walke, Rainer, 2012. "DemoDiff: A Dataset for the Study of Family Change in Eastern (and Western) Germany," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 132(4), pages 653-660.
    2. Hendrik Jürges, 2007. "Unemployment, life satisfaction and retrospective error," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(1), pages 43-61, January.
    3. Megan Beckett & Julie Da Vanzo & Narayan Sastry & Constantijn Panis & Christine Peterson, 2001. "The Quality of Retrospective Data: An Examination of Long-Term Recall in a Developing Country," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 36(3), pages 593-625.
    4. Cees H. Elzinga & Aart C. Liefbroer, 2007. "De-standardization of Family-Life Trajectories of Young Adults: A Cross-National Comparison Using Sequence Analysis," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 225-250, October.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Germany; family;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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