How Well do you Know your Partner? Strategies for Formulating Proxy-Reports and Their Effects on Convergence to Self-Reports

Surveys in marketing often ask one member of a household what other members think of a new product idea or what their preferences are in terms of existing products and brands. The authors investigate the strategies proxy-reporters use to answer such questions and how close they come to what the target respondents themselves answer. They find that as the extent to which a couple talks to each other or participates in an activity together increases, proxy-reporters tend to use more specific information about the target respondent, and the convergence between self- and proxy-reports tends to increase. Furthermore, as the extent of participation/discussion increases, the strategies used to arrive at self- and proxy-reports become more similar. Implications for improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of survey research are discussed.