There is a commonly held assumption that health interview surveys attempt to measure the same health status construct as clinical examinations. This assumption is most obviously manifested in validity studies which compare the results of health interview surveys with either clinical examinations or medical records. As a consequence they have found that the morbidity indicators used in the surveys are of minimal validity. This article argues that the assumption is mistaken. The concept of perceived morbidity is briefly examined as a step towards a solution to these difficulties and then a more comprehensive framework for the consideration of morbidity is proposed. The article concludes by briefly demonstrating the possibilities for analysis of the relationship between perceived morbidity and consequent behaviour arising from the application of the framework to data taken from the Australian Health Survey, 1977-78.
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