Rights statement: Inflated Responses in Measures of Self-Assessed Health William H. Greene, Mark N. Harris, and Bruce Hollingsworth American Journal of Health Economics 2015 1:4, 461-493 © 2015 The MIT Press
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Inflated responses in measures of self-assessed health
AU - Greene, William H.
AU - Harris, Mark
AU - Hollingsworth, Bruce
N1 - Inflated Responses in Measures of Self-Assessed Health William H. Greene, Mark N. Harris, and Bruce Hollingsworth American Journal of Health Economics 2015 1:4, 461-493 © 2015 The MIT Press
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - This paper focuses on the self-reported responses given to survey questions of the form “Overall, how would you rate your health?” with typical response items being on a scale ranging from poor to excellent. Usually, the overwhelming majority of responses fall in either the middle category or the one immediately to the “right” of this (for example, good and very good). However, based on a wide range of other medical indicators, such favorable responses appear to paint an overly rosy picture of true health. The hypothesis here is that these “middle” responses have been, in some sense, inflated. That is, for whatever reason, a significant number of responders inaccurately report into these categories. Our results do indeed suggest that such inflation is present in these categories. Adjusted responses to these questions could lead to significant changes in policy, and should be reflected upon when analyzing and interpreting these scales.
AB - This paper focuses on the self-reported responses given to survey questions of the form “Overall, how would you rate your health?” with typical response items being on a scale ranging from poor to excellent. Usually, the overwhelming majority of responses fall in either the middle category or the one immediately to the “right” of this (for example, good and very good). However, based on a wide range of other medical indicators, such favorable responses appear to paint an overly rosy picture of true health. The hypothesis here is that these “middle” responses have been, in some sense, inflated. That is, for whatever reason, a significant number of responders inaccurately report into these categories. Our results do indeed suggest that such inflation is present in these categories. Adjusted responses to these questions could lead to significant changes in policy, and should be reflected upon when analyzing and interpreting these scales.
U2 - 10.1162/AJHE_a_00026
DO - 10.1162/AJHE_a_00026
M3 - Journal article
VL - 1
SP - 461
EP - 493
JO - American Journal of Health Economics
JF - American Journal of Health Economics
SN - 2332-3493
IS - 4
ER -