Cognitive aspects of health survey methodology: an overview.

The past 25 years have seen the development of a wide variety of sample surveys dealing with the nature and distribution of illness and disability, and with the utilization of health care services. The sample survey is currently the most widespread and influential instrument for judging the health status of the nation and for guiding health policy. The knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of survey respondents "subjectively" affect what the survey seeks to "objectively" measure. Even as statistical sampling has been refined, so is it important to reexamine what the cognitive sciences have to offer for survey interview structure and content.