Proxy respondents and data quality 

SBI contributors 

Prof. Dr. Michael Bergmann, Minh Le

Project description

Longitudinal ageing studies face a persistent challenge: as participants grow older, health problems or cognitive decline can prevent them from completing surveys themselves. To keep these individuals included and reduce bias from attrition, researchers often rely on proxy respondents (i.e. family members or caregivers who answer on behalf of the participant). While proxies help maintain continuity and include vulnerable groups, they raise important questions about data quality. Subjective experiences, such as pain or emotional well-being, may be underreported or inconsistently captured, and protocols for proxy interviews vary widely across studies. Ethical concerns about excluding vulnerable elderly subgroups, such as those in long-term care, further complicate the issue. 

Current research at SHARE is evaluating how proxy interviews are conducted in international ageing studies, testing new protocols, recruitment strategies, and interview procedures. These efforts aim to improve the accuracy and comparability of proxy data, ensuring that longitudinal studies capture a fuller, more representative picture of ageing, even for participants who cannot respond directly. 

Status

Active

Selected publications 

N/A 

Selected presentations 

Bergmann, M., & Zaccaria, D. (2025). Proxy respondents in longitudinal ageing studies: Can they help to reduce bias in ageing research?. 11th Conference of the European Survey Research Association (ESRA), Utrecht, the Netherlands. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16681849