# Verbal Reports as Data

*Ericsson · Measurement & Method · Psychological Review · 1980 · Open access*

Established the theoretical basis for treating verbal reports as legitimate scientific data, within the human information processing framework. The core argument: think-aloud protocols are reliable when they capture information the participant is already attending to in short-term memory, but become unreliable when instructions require inference about processes that were never directly heeded. The distinction matters for PS research because survey-based self-report measures (the dominant methodology in the field) ask respondents to report on perceptions and experiences that may or may not have been consciously attended to at the time. The paper provides the epistemological grounding for understanding when self-report data is trustworthy and when it is likely to be reconstructive rather than recollective — a relevant methodological caution for interpreting PS scale responses.

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