Bounding is a technique used in panel surveys to reduce the effect of telescoping on behavioral frequency reports. Telescoping is a memory error in the temporal placement of events; that is, an event is remembered, but the remembered date of the event is inaccurate. This uncertainty about the dates of events leads respondents to report events mistakenly as occurring earlier or later than they actually occurred. Bounding reduces telescoping errors in two ways. First, bounding takes advantage of the information collected earlier to eliminate the possibility that respondents report events that occurred outside a given reference period. Second, bounding provides a temporal reference point in respondents' memory, which helps them correctly place an event in relation to that reference point.

A number of specific bounding procedures ...