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Observation Versus Survey. Actual Versus Recorded Behavior

Sometimes people have a hard time answering questions regarding habitual things or things that they may be embarrassed for others to know about. David Kelley mentions problems pumping gas in a presentation he gave. People were asked if they have trouble pumping gas and they said no. However, when you watch people, a good amount of people have issues getting gas on their clothes.

Some other areas where this may happen can involve habits. For example: how many times a week do you eat fast food? We may be inclined to say 1-2 times a week; but, in reality, it could be closer to 5 times.  This could help a company such as Hello Fresh appropriately gauge the need for their services.  If people were more truthful with their answer, we would see a larger need for a service that encouraged people to cook at home.

Another questions could be: how many alcoholic beverages do you consume per week on average? People have a rough idea of what is socially acceptable and what number would make them seem within those social limits. Reality could be much higher. I have personally seen this working in a doctor's office.  Most of the time, if a person is willing to write down 10 drinks a week, the actual number of drinks consumed is even higher.  Observing rather than surveying could help more accurately pinpoint how much alcohol is actually consumed.

Another difference could be in the amount of hours we watch TV or play on our phones per day.  You may not want people to know that you binge Netflix for four hours everyday or check your phone every 10 minutes. For fear of being embarrassed, shamed, deemed lazy, deemed obsessive, etc. you may report a much lower number of hours in front of the screen that is more socially accepted.  If we were honest, we would see that we spend too much time staring at screens, how common is addiction, and who/where to encouraged to get outside or at least take a break from the screen.

Sometimes observation provides a more accurate number or representation regarding a certain issue and proves to be the much more beneficial route to get to the true answer.

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