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There are several factors that can significantly affect the design of epidemiological studies. Among them, one can distinguish the so-called recall bias. This phenomenon can be partly explained by the fact under some circumstances; people tend to focus on some specific events.
Moreover, this problem can be attributed to the inaccuracies of the respondents’ recollections. This paper is aimed at showing why this issue can have significant implications for case-control studies and how its effects can be minimized by scholars.
There are several examples illustrating the influence of recall bias. For instance, people who are affected by a certain disease such as cancer, are more likely to recollect the exposure to potential risk factors (Hasson, 2011). The main issue is that they can recollect this exposure only because they could learn about this risk factor through mass media like television or the Internet (Hasson, 2011).
Similarly, parents are more likely to recollect the events that could have contributed to the disease of their children. One can mention that the parents of children of autism may focus on the events that could have led to this disorder. In contrast, parents, whose children are not affected, are more likely to dismiss these events as something unimportant. This is one of the trends that have been observed in various case-control studies.
There are several strategies that can minimize the influence of recall bias. For example, researchers try to select patients who have been recently diagnosed with a specific disease (Hasson, 2011). Additionally, researchers may conceal the specific question that they want to examine. In particular, the questions about a particular risk factor can be included in the long list of questions which are related to potential exposures (Hasson, 2011).
So, they will not attract the respondents’ attention to a specific issue. Furthermore, under some circumstances, researchers can compare patients’ self-reports with their medical records (Hasson, 2011). On the whole, these techniques are useful for reducing the impact of recall bias. These are the main details that can be singled out.
It is possible to consider the research carried out by Ingeborg Rossow et al. (2013). It is a case-control study, aimed at examining the relations between alcohol-related injuries and heavy episodic drinking (Rossow et al. 2013, p. 1). The sample of the study was divided into two groups.
In particular, one can speak about people whose blood contained alcohol at the time of injury. In turn, the controls were respondents from the general population. One should note that the respondents could be injured within 12 months before the interview. This interval is rather enough, and it can increase the risk of recall bias.
Moreover, researchers paid close attention to heavy episodic drinking, but they did not examine other risks factors (Rossow et al. 2013). Therefore, they could attract the respondent’s attention to this specific detail. This is probably the major short-coming of this research.
One should also keep in mind that scholars do not mention recall bias as one of the limitations. Nevertheless, the analysis of their research methods shows that they do not eliminate the risk of this flaw. This example suggests that people who design case-control studies, need to remember about this particular problem, which can eventually invalidate their findings. There are various techniques which can help them avoid this pitfall.
Reference List
Hasson, E. (2011). Recall Bias can be a Threat to Retrospective and Prospective Research Designs.The Internet Journal of Epidemiology, 3(1).
Rossow, I., Bogstrand, S., Normann, P., & Ekeberg, Ø. (2013). Associations between heavy episodic drinking and alcohol related injuries: a case control study. BMC Public Health, 13(1), 1-19.
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