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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Office of Survey Methods Research > Publications > Browse Research Papers

A Multiple Strategy Perspective on Behavioral and Laboratory Frequency Estimation

Frederick G. Conrad and Norman R. Brown

Abstract

The survey literature indicates that people use multiple strategies to estimate frequency. We first outline a multiple-strategy perspective that has emerged from this literature. We then describe a field study and a series of laboratory experiments that explore this perspective using protocols and response times. These studies indicate that multiple strategies are used to estimate event frequency in the laboratory as well as in the real world. Finally, we note that the multiple-strategy perspective clearly demonstrates that theoretical insights do emerge from the study of everyday memory (cf. Banaji & Crowder, 1989).