Journal of Economic Literature
ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)
Understanding Economic Behavior Using Open-Ended Survey Data
Journal of Economic Literature
(pp. 1244–80)
Abstract
We survey the recent literature in economics using open-ended survey data to uncover mechanisms behind economic beliefs and behaviors. We first provide an overview of different applications, including the measurement of motives, mental models, narratives, attention, information transmission, and recall. We next describe different ways of eliciting open-ended responses, including single-item open-ended questions, speech recordings, and artificial intelligence–powered qualitative interviews. Subsequently, we discuss methods to annotate and analyze such data with a focus on recent advances in large language models. Our review concludes with a discussion of promising avenues for future research.Citation
Haaland, Ingar, Christopher Roth, Stefanie Stantcheva, and Johannes Wohlfart. 2025. "Understanding Economic Behavior Using Open-Ended Survey Data." Journal of Economic Literature 63 (4): 1244–80. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20251780Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C83 Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
- C90 Design of Experiments: General
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making