Addictive Behaviors, zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Vol. 7, pp. 33-38, 1982 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. 0306-4603/82/010033-06$03.00/O Copyright e 1982 Pergamon Press Ltd COMPARISON OF TWO TECHNIQUES TO OBTAIN RETROSPECTIVE REPORTS OF DRINKING BEHAVIOR FROM ALCOHOL ABUSERS STEPHEN A. MAISTO Vanderbilt University LINDA C. SOBELL* Addiction Research Foundation and University of Toronto A. MITCH COOPER Community Mental Health Center of Escambia County and MARK B. SOBELL Addiction Research Foundation and University of Toronto Abstract -Two different interview techniques, used to obtain retrospective reports of daily drinking behavior from alcohol abusers, were empirically evaluated for degree of consistency. Fifteen male alcohol abusers receiving outpatient treatment for alcohol problems participated in two different studies: an alcohol treatment outcome study conducted by the Rand Corpora- tion, and an evaluation of the reliability and validity of a time-line follow-back interview tech- nique. The degree of consistency of self-reports of certain demographic information as well as drinking and related behaviors occurring 30 days pretreatment was evaluated. Correlational and scatterplot analyses showed a moderate to high degree of agreement between the two data sources, lending confidence to the information obtained from each of the interview methods. Limits on the generahzability of these findings are discussed. In 1976, Armor, Polich and Stambul published treatment outcome findings for 45 alcohol treatment centres (ATCs) funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). That study, known as the Rand Report, generated considerable controversy (Armor, Polich, & Stambul, 1978; Hodgson, 1979) because a small group of clients were found to be maintaining nonproblem drinking at 6 and 18 month follow-ups. The Rand Report was criticised, in part, because nearly all outcome data were derived from clients’ self-reports (Armor et al., 1978). Critics argued that alcohol abusers give invalid self-reports of their drinking behavior. Given the controversy generated by the Rand Report, coupled with the import of the outcome data, it would have been advantageous had the authors determined the reliability and validity of their clients’ self-reports. This did not occur, however. Measuring the degree of consistency between self-reports of similar information col- lected by two independent sources can provide some evidence regarding the reliability of the data. The present study evaluated the consistency in pretreatment data obtained by two different and independent interview techniques-Time-Line and Rand. The This study was conducted while all the authors were affiliated with Vanderbilt University and Dede Wallace Center, Alcohol Programs in Nashville, Tennessee. *Reprint requests should be addressed to Linda C. Sobell, Clinical Institute, Addiction Research Founda- tion, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario MSS 2Sl Canada. 33