Autobiographical Memory and Survey Methodology: Furthering the Bridge Between Two Disciplines

Abstract

In 1983 the US committee on National Statistics with support from the National Science Foundation, organized a meeting between a number of cognitive scientists, survey specialists, and statistical methodologists to discuss cognitive aspects of survey methodology (see Jabine, Straf, Tanur & Tourangeau, 1984, and Loftus, Fienberg & Tanur, 1985). The purpose of this meeting was to promote mutually beneficial collaboration between scientists from these complimentary disciplines. Survey specialists, for example, could improve their techniques of questionnaire design and structure through awareness of findings by cognitive psychologists. On the other hand, cognitive psychology could profit from sociological findings based on representative sample surveys. Loftus et.al (1985) state: “to further improve the quality of information obtained from respondents, we believe that the designer of surveys would benefit from detailed knowledge of basic findings in cognitive and social psychology” (Loftus et.al. 1985, p. 176). The authors also state that: “Conversely, the knowledge derived from National Surveys can provide new sources of data for learning about human cognition (Loftus et.al, 1985, p. 176).