Retrospectieve vertekening in interviews. Een empirisch onderzoek naar het gebruik van interviews bij the opsporen van beleidsprocessen uit het recente verleden

Samenvatting

Many longitudinal studies employ retrospective interviews, in which Rs describe their past attitudes & behavior. The reliability of such data is threatened by retrospective bias, eg, omission or distortion of past events. To investigate the distortion caused by retrospective bias, an attempt was made to examine Dutch local policy processes from 1968 to 1974 using both historical documentary evidence & current interview data (N = 44). Local politicians were more likely to mention recently concluded, successful policies as representative of their tenure than to mention short-lived or unsuccessful projects. Additionally, the prestige accorded by the public to particular projects seemed to increase their importance to the politicians. 6 Tables, 35 References. Modified HA.