Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys

Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309272475
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
For many household surveys in the United States, responses rates have been steadily declining for at least the past two decades. A similar decline in survey response can be observed in all wealthy countries. Efforts to raise response rates have used such strategies as monetary incentives or repeated attempts to contact sample members and obtain completed interviews, but these strategies increase the costs of surveys. This review addresses the core issues regarding survey nonresponse. It considers why response rates are declining and what that means for the accuracy of survey results. These trends are of particular concern for the social science community, which is heavily invested in obtaining information from household surveys. The evidence to date makes it apparent that current trends in nonresponse, if not arrested, threaten to undermine the potential of household surveys to elicit information that assists in understanding social and economic issues. The trends also threaten to weaken the validity of inferences drawn from estimates based on those surveys. High nonresponse rates create the potential or risk for bias in estimates and affect survey design, data collection, estimation, and analysis. The survey community is painfully aware of these trends and has responded aggressively to these threats. The interview modes employed by surveys in the public and private sectors have proliferated as new technologies and methods have emerged and matured. To the traditional trio of mail, telephone, and face-to-face surveys have been added interactive voice response (IVR), audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI), web surveys, and a number of hybrid methods. Similarly, a growing research agenda has emerged in the past decade or so focused on seeking solutions to various aspects of the problem of survey nonresponse; the potential solutions that have been considered range from better training and deployment of interviewers to more use of incentives, better use of the information collected in the data collection, and increased use of auxiliary information from other sources in survey design and data collection. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda also documents the increased use of information collected in the survey process in nonresponse adjustment.

Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys

Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309272475
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 167

Get Book

Book Description
For many household surveys in the United States, responses rates have been steadily declining for at least the past two decades. A similar decline in survey response can be observed in all wealthy countries. Efforts to raise response rates have used such strategies as monetary incentives or repeated attempts to contact sample members and obtain completed interviews, but these strategies increase the costs of surveys. This review addresses the core issues regarding survey nonresponse. It considers why response rates are declining and what that means for the accuracy of survey results. These trends are of particular concern for the social science community, which is heavily invested in obtaining information from household surveys. The evidence to date makes it apparent that current trends in nonresponse, if not arrested, threaten to undermine the potential of household surveys to elicit information that assists in understanding social and economic issues. The trends also threaten to weaken the validity of inferences drawn from estimates based on those surveys. High nonresponse rates create the potential or risk for bias in estimates and affect survey design, data collection, estimation, and analysis. The survey community is painfully aware of these trends and has responded aggressively to these threats. The interview modes employed by surveys in the public and private sectors have proliferated as new technologies and methods have emerged and matured. To the traditional trio of mail, telephone, and face-to-face surveys have been added interactive voice response (IVR), audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI), web surveys, and a number of hybrid methods. Similarly, a growing research agenda has emerged in the past decade or so focused on seeking solutions to various aspects of the problem of survey nonresponse; the potential solutions that have been considered range from better training and deployment of interviewers to more use of incentives, better use of the information collected in the data collection, and increased use of auxiliary information from other sources in survey design and data collection. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda also documents the increased use of information collected in the survey process in nonresponse adjustment.

Improving Survey Questions

Improving Survey Questions PDF Author: Floyd J. Fowler
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780803945838
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Questions as Measures An Overview Designing Questions to Gather Factual Data Questions to Measure Subjective States Some General Rules for Designing Good Survey Instruments Presurvey Evaluation of Questions Assessing the Validity of Survey Questions Question Design and Evaluation Issues in Perspective.

Improving Survey Response

Improving Survey Response PDF Author: Ineke A. L. Stoop
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9780470688328
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
High response rates have traditionally been considered as one of the main indicators of survey quality. Obtaining high response rates is sometimes difficult and expensive, but clearly plays a beneficial role in terms of improving data quality. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that simply boosting response to achieve a higher response rate will not in itself eradicate nonresponse bias. In this book the authors argue that high response rates should not be seen as a goal in themselves, but rather as part of an overall survey quality strategy based on random probability sampling and aimed at minimising nonresponse bias. Key features of Improving Survey Response: A detailed coverage of nonresponse issues, including a unique examination of cross-national survey nonresponse processes and outcomes. A discussion of the potential causes of nonresponse and practical strategies to combat it. A detailed examination of the impact of nonresponse and of techniques for adjusting for it once it has occurred. Examples of best practices and experiments drawn from 25 European countries. Supplemented by the European Social Survey (ESS) websites, containing materials for the measurement and analysis of nonresponse based on detailed country-level response process datasets. The book is designed to help survey researchers and those commissioning surveys by explaining how to prioritise the reduction of nonresponse bias rather than focusing on increasing the overall response rate. It shows substantive researchers how nonresponse can impact on substantive outcomes.

The Psychology of Survey Response

The Psychology of Survey Response PDF Author: Roger Tourangeau
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521576291
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
This valuable book examines the complex psychological processes involved in answering different types of survey questions. Drawing on both classic and modern research from cognitive psychology, social psychology, and survey methodology, the authors examine how survey responses are formulated and they demonstrate how seemingly unimportant features of the survey can affect the answers obtained. The book provides a comprehensive review of the sources of response errors in surveys, and it offers a coherent theory of the relation between the underlying views of the public and the results of public opinion polls. Topics include the comprehension of survey questions, the recall of relevant facts and beliefs, estimation and inferential processes people use to answer survey questions, the sources of the apparent instability of public opinion, the difficulties in getting responses into the required format, and the distortions introduced into surveys by deliberate misreporting.

Improving Survey Methods

Improving Survey Methods PDF Author: Uwe Engel
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131762971X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
This state-of-the-art volume provides insight into the recent developments in survey research. It covers topics like: survey modes and response effects, bio indicators and paradata, interviewer and survey error, mixed-mode panels, sensitive questions, conducting web surveys and access panels, coping with non-response, and handling missing data. The authors are leading scientists in the field, and discuss the latest methods and challenges with respect to these topics. Each of the book’s eight parts starts with a brief chapter that provides an historical context along with an overview of today’s most critical survey methods. Chapters in the sections focus on research applications in practice and discuss results from field studies. As such, the book will help researchers design surveys according to today’s best practices. The book’s website www.survey-methodology.de provides additional information, statistical analyses, tables and figures. An indispensable reference for practicing researchers and methodologists or any professional who uses surveys in their work, this book also serves as a supplement for graduate or upper level-undergraduate courses on survey methods taught in psychology, sociology, education, economics, and business. Although the book focuses on European findings, all of the research is discussed with reference to the entire survey-methodology area, including the US. As such, the insights in this book will apply to surveys conducted around the world.

Mail Surveys

Mail Surveys PDF Author: Thomas W. Mangione
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780803946637
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
In this book, the author considers such issues as how to identify situations most appropriate for a mail survey, how to reduce sampling bias and question response errors, and how to obtain good response rates from a mail survey.

Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods

Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods PDF Author: Paul J. Lavrakas
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 150631788X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1073

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Book Description
To the uninformed, surveys appear to be an easy type of research to design and conduct, but when students and professionals delve deeper, they encounter the vast complexities that the range and practice of survey methods present. To complicate matters, technology has rapidly affected the way surveys can be conducted; today, surveys are conducted via cell phone, the Internet, email, interactive voice response, and other technology-based modes. Thus, students, researchers, and professionals need both a comprehensive understanding of these complexities and a revised set of tools to meet the challenges. In conjunction with top survey researchers around the world and with Nielsen Media Research serving as the corporate sponsor, the Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods presents state-of-the-art information and methodological examples from the field of survey research. Although there are other "how-to" guides and references texts on survey research, none is as comprehensive as this Encyclopedia, and none presents the material in such a focused and approachable manner. With more than 600 entries, this resource uses a Total Survey Error perspective that considers all aspects of possible survey error from a cost-benefit standpoint. Key Features Covers all major facets of survey research methodology, from selecting the sample design and the sampling frame, designing and pretesting the questionnaire, data collection, and data coding, to the thorny issues surrounding diminishing response rates, confidentiality, privacy, informed consent and other ethical issues, data weighting, and data analyses Presents a Reader′s Guide to organize entries around themes or specific topics and easily guide users to areas of interest Offers cross-referenced terms, a brief listing of Further Readings, and stable Web site URLs following most entries The Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods is specifically written to appeal to beginning, intermediate, and advanced students, practitioners, researchers, consultants, and consumers of survey-based information.

Survey Nonresponse

Survey Nonresponse PDF Author: Robert M. Groves
Publisher: Wiley-Interscience
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
This volume offers coverage of research in the field of survey nonresponse, the primary threat to the statistical integrity of surveys. This book was written in conjunction with the International Conference on Survey Nonresponse, October 1999.

The Essential Guide to Mystery Shopping

The Essential Guide to Mystery Shopping PDF Author: PamInCa
Publisher: Happy About
ISBN: 1600051316
Category : Home-based businesses
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
A step-by-step guide to starting, performing, and reporting mystery shops, this resource provides legitimate lists of companies that do not charge mystery shoppers to work for them, Web sites, company expectations, and other valuable information.

Studies of Welfare Populations

Studies of Welfare Populations PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309076234
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 538

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Book Description
This volume, a companion to Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition, is a collection of papers on data collection issues for welfare and low-income populations. The papers on survey issues cover methods for designing surveys taking into account nonresponse in advance, obtaining high response rates in telephone surveys, obtaining high response rates in in-person surveys, the effects of incentive payments, methods for adjusting for missing data in surveys of low-income populations, and measurement error issues in surveys, with a special focus on recall error. The papers on administrative data cover the issues of matching and cleaning, access and confidentiality, problems in measuring employment and income, and the availability of data on children. The papers on welfare leavers and welfare dynamics cover a comparison of existing welfare leaver studies, data from the state of Wisconsin on welfare leavers, and data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth used to construct measures of heterogeneity in the welfare population based on the recipient's own welfare experience. A final paper discusses qualitative data.