Using daily reports to measure drinking and drinking patterns
Section snippets
Strengths and limitations of daily reporting methods
As a data collection technique, using daily reports has both advantages and disadvantages when compared to retrospective questionnaires Roghmann & Haggerty, 1972, Stone et al., 1991, Tennen et al., 1991, Verbrugge, 1980. Daily reporting generally results in higher levels of reported behavior, especially of relatively commonplace behaviors that are easily forgotten Roghmann & Haggerty, 1972, Verbrugge, 1980, and these higher levels are often assumed to be more accurate (Verbrugge, 1980). Because
Data collection methods
Daily reports of events or behaviors can be made in three ways (Wheeler & Reis, 1991). In interval-contingent recording, participants report on their experience at regular predetermined intervals (for example, every day). The reports usually cover what happened during the previous interval. Signal-contingent recording requires that participants make a report when they are signaled by the investigator (via a pager or other electronic device). These signals can be sent at random or fixed
Reporting interval
The choice of the reporting interval depends on the length of time that is theoretically important and the period that participants can report accurately (Stone et al., 1991). For convenience, many studies use a day as the reporting interval, with participants reporting at the end of the day about events that occurred throughout that day. For transient phenomena such as moods, multiple assessments each day are more appropriate; alternatively, participants could report once a day and note the
Validity issues
Because daily reports are assumed to be more accurate than alternative measures Armstrong et al., 1992, Verbrugge, 1980, they are often used to validate other measures, primarily retrospective questionnaires. However, because daily reports are not perfectly valid, comparisons of daily reports to other measures do not assess validity but rather intermethod reliability, a “measure of the ability of two different instruments that measure the same underlying exposure to yield similar results on the
Results of studies that compare daily reports to retrospective questionnaires
Nearly 30 published studies have compared daily reports with retrospective measures of alcohol use (see listing in Appendix A). Retrospective measures used in these comparisons include:
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7-day recall, in which participants recall their drinking on each day of the previous week Corti et al., 1990, Gerstel et al., 1980a, Gerstel et al., 1980b, Lemmens et al., 1988, Lemmens et al., 1992, Samo et al., 1989, Whitty & Jones, 1992.
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A quantity–frequency (QF) or quantity–frequency–variability (QFV)
Summary and conclusions
Given the costs of daily data collection, the demands on participants, and the possibility of reactivity, we may ask whether collection of this type of data is worthwhile. The answer depends on the purpose for which the reports are used. For simply measuring drinking frequency, quantity, or volume, daily reports may not be necessary: Retrospective estimates usually capture levels of drinking fairly well, although less well for heavy or very infrequent drinkers. Validity of retrospective
Acknowledgements
Preparation of this paper was supported by grants no. AA09701 and no. K02 AA0183 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
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