Assessing the Household's Financial Situation, Alone with the Interviewer or in the Partner's Presence

When conducting sociodemographic surveys, considerable efforts are required to establish a representative sample, to reach the selected persons and convince them to take part, and to obtain exact - or at least consistent - answers to the questions asked. This last requirement is fulfilled if two conditions are met, i.e. the questions are understood and accepted in the same way by everyone, and the interview conditions are as similar as possible for all respondents. The French version of the European Generations and Gender Survey was conducted by INED in 2005, 2008 and 2011 using face-to-face interviews, with experienced, professional interviewers from the French statistical office (INSEE). Using data from the first survey wave, Patrick FESTY, Joëlle GAYMU and Marc THÉVENIN show that among persons in a union, men's and women's answers on financial wellbeing are generally similar, but that the partner's presence at the interview considerably influences the answers given, and in opposite directions for men and women. This article provides a timely reminder that analyses of survey data must take account of data collection effects which may modify respondent's responses in complex ways.