Investigating spousal inconsistencies in temporal reports: A methodological framework

Recent studies demonstrated inconsistencies among family members' responses to various social issues. This paper presents a measurement procedure for comparing, for example, the responses of husbands and wives while also considering the wife's cohort. The procedure was employed in a study concerning consumers' temporal orientation. The method is based on D² distances. In addition to constructing the differences between the groups, the paper compares the statistical procedures for assessing significant differences among the measured distances. Formal statistical tests are employed, as well as graphical methods for presenting results. The suggested approach seems useful in a variety of psycho-economic research areas over and beyond the area of husband-wife differences.