Recall Bias
Recall bias is a systematic error caused by respondents inaccurately remembering past events, behaviors, or feelings — usually worsening with elapsed time.
Recall bias contaminates retrospective surveys that ask about behavior more than a few days in the past. Memory is reconstructive, not photographic: respondents fill gaps with plausible inferences, salient events overshadow routine ones, and current sentiment colors recall of past sentiment ('peak-end' effect). Customer surveys asking 'how was your support experience last month?' should be replaced with transactional surveys triggered within 24 hours. Annual employee-engagement surveys suffer extreme recall bias and should be supplemented with quarterly pulse data.
Example
Ask 'how often did you use the product last month?' and self-report averages 12.4 sessions. Server-side log data shows actual median = 6 sessions — a 100%+ overreporting consistent with frequency-recall research.
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Response Bias
Response bias is any systematic tendency of respondents to answer questions inaccurately, either intentionally or unconsciously.
Social Desirability Bias
Social desirability bias is the tendency of respondents to answer in ways they believe will be viewed favorably by others.
Central Tendency Bias
Central tendency bias is the tendency of respondents to avoid extreme options on a rating scale, clustering toward the middle.
Selection Bias
Selection bias is a systematic error arising when the people included in a survey differ from the target population in ways that affect the outcome.
Pulse Survey
A pulse survey is a short, frequent survey (3-5 questions) used to track sentiment over time.
Acquiescence Bias
Acquiescence bias is the tendency of respondents to agree with statements regardless of their actual opinions.