It can be difficult to remember events that occurred in the past as well as the accurate timing of when they occurred.  It is also difficult to provide the exact same information on multiple different surveys over the years.  As time progresses, the accurate recollection of details starts to get more difficult.  Errors resulting from this is called ‘recall bias’.

It is much easier to accurately remember recent events and the timing of when they occurred.

For this reason, we identified a number of questions on Survey 2023 that we have asked on a previous survey (Survey 2017).

• • If a participant completed Survey 2017, we will only ask ‘in the last 5 years’ which will make it easier for the participant.  This should help to reduce recall bias.
  • If a participant didn’t complete Survey 2017, they will be asked ‘at any point in the past’.