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Proxy Reporting

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The Palgrave Handbook of Survey Research

Abstract

Survey researchers often rely on proxy reporting whereby an individual provides answers to survey questions about someone else, whether it be another family member, friend, co-worker, etc. The use of proxy reports can be a reasonable and efficient research strategy if proxy reports can be relied upon to provide accurate information. This chapter summarizes past research on the accuracy of proxy reporting and reports the results of an experiment on how the design of survey questions (e.g., open vs. closed, number of response categories) can impact the accuracy of proxy reports.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Menlo Park, CA, USA

    Curtiss Cobb

Authors
  1. Curtiss Cobb
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Correspondence to Curtiss Cobb .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University , Stanford, California, USA

    David L. Vannette

  2. Stanford University , Stanford, California, USA

    Jon A. Krosnick

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Cobb, C. (2018). Proxy Reporting. In: Vannette, D., Krosnick, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Survey Research . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54395-6_52

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