Quelle: Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 13 (2019) 1, S 59-90
Inhalt: Questions on earnings are counted among sensitive topics that often produce high rates of item nonresponse or measurement error. Both types of bias are well documented in the literature and are found to concentrate in the tails of the earnings distribution. In this paper, we explore whether measurement error on earnings could be explained by socially desirable
reporting and whether the error is impacted by interviewer characteristics. Using the linked dataset NEPS-SC6-ADIAB, which contains survey data from the German National Educational Panel Study, Starting Cohort "Adults", linked to administrative earnings records from the German Federal Employment Agency, we analyze the extents of over- and underreporting and the influence of respondent and interviewer characteristics on these behaviors for different quartiles of the earnings distribution. Our results show that the average level of misreporting is relatively low (approximately 6% of median earnings). Our main logistic model reveals that female and more highly educated respondents report significantly more accurately while those with higher earnings misreport to a significantly greater extent. Regarding the impact of personality traits on reporting accuracy, we find significant positive effects for more agreeable respondents and significant negative effects for extraverted respondents. When differentiating by the direction of misreporting, we find, for instance, that women are less likely to overreport across all earnings quartiles. However, the influence of interviewer characteristics is negligible.
Non-Randomized Response Models: An Experimental Application of the Triangular Model as an Indirect Questioning Method for Sensitive Topics
Autor/in:
Erdmann, Anke
Quelle: Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 13 (2019) 1, S 139-167
Inhalt: When it comes to sensitive questions, data is often affected by bias due to non-response or effects of social desirability. Several methods have been introduced to eliminate answer bias by using randomization processes and probabilistic theory to obscure the respondent’s answer and create anonymity, thus facilitating honest answers. The probably most traditional method is the Randomized Response Technique by Warner (1965). However, this method is loaded with certain disadvantages. Therefore, in the last decade, newer methods were introduced that aim at balancing the disadvantages and weaknesses of previous methods, for instance, the non-randomized models Crosswise Model and Triangular Model (Yu et al. 2008) as well as the Parallel Model (Tian 2014). Although especially the Triangular Model is easy to implement in a study, there is only little empirical evidence on its application in different survey modes and populations. Further, it is to assume that certain questions are not equally sensitive for everybody due to specific personal characteristics. Thus, indirect questioning might not be effective in general but only for certain populations. The present study extends prior work on the Triangular Model by evaluating it for different subgroups. The conducted experiment asks for sensitive characteristics in the context of mental stress among students. The Triangular Model achieves significantly higher percentages than conventional direct questioning for illegal drug use among persons that answer socially desirable according to the characteristic of Self-Deception. For the other analyzed subgroups (Impression Management, gender, and depressiveness), the Triangular Model could not achieve higher prevalence rates compared to direct questioning on a sufficient probability level. But still, hard evidence on the effectiveness of indirect questioning models is thin and further critical discussion is needed.
Schlagwörter:Umfrageforschung; survey research; Datengewinnung; data capture; Datenqualität; data quality; Antwortverhalten; response behavior; soziale Erwünschtheit; social desirability; Anonymität; anonymity; psychische Gesundheit; mental health; Drogenkonsum; drug use; Triangular Model; Indirect Questioning; Survey Methodology; Non-Randomized Response
SSOAR Kategorie:Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften
Using Alignment Optimization to Test the Measurement Invariance of Gender Role Attitudes in 59 Countries
Autor/in:
Lomazzi, Vera
Quelle: Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 12 (2018) 1, S 77-103
Inhalt: Several repeated cross-national surveys include measurements of attitudes toward gender roles to investigate individuals’ beliefs regarding the appropriateness of men and women’s roles in a particular context. When used to compare attitudes across countries, these measurements reveal critical factors that could cause a lack of equivalence between different cultural contexts, and that could therefore produce misleading results. Nevertheless, the use of such measures to compare country means without assessing measurement equivalence is common. It should also be considered that the assessment of equivalence within a large-scale sample from cross-sectional surveys through multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) often fails because of the strict requirements necessary. The current article is used to assess the measurement equivalence of the gender role attitudes scale included in the last wave of the World Values Survey in 59 countries, with the main goal of identifying the most invariant model for the largest number of groups. The study involved comparing two methods belonging to the frequentist approach: MGCFA and the frequentist alignment procedure, a highly novel and promising method that is still rarely used. Using the first technique, partial scalar invariance was achieved for 27 countries. By employing the frequentist alignment optimization, an acceptable degree of noninvariance was achieved for 35 countries. Thus, the study confirmed the frequentist alignment procedure as a viable alternative to the MGCFA.
Demonstrating How to Best Examine Group-based Segregation: A Statistical and Conceptual Multilevel Approach
Autor/in:
Spörlein, Christoph; Schlueter, Elmar
Quelle: Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 12 (2018) 2, S 211-232
Inhalt: Segregation between ethnic or sociodemographic groups represents a longstanding key independent and dependent variable for the social sciences. However, researchers have only recently begun to take advantage of inferential rather than descriptive statistical techniques
in order to assess various aspects of segregation. Specifically, this paper shows that the multilevel binomial response approach suggested by Leckie et al. (2012) provides a particularly flexible framework for describing and explaining segregation in ways not previously possible. Taking the index of dissimilarity (D) as an example we demonstrate how the multilevel binomial response approach helps to reduce the problem of small unit bias, allows to asses segregation at different scales and enables researchers to better understand the role of individual- and contextual-level explanatory variables in shaping segregation. To this end, we employ three case studies focusing on different manifestations of ethnic and gender segregation using survey data from urban, national and cross-national settings.
Schlagwörter:ethnische Gruppe; ethnic group; Minderheit; minority; Gruppenzugehörigkeit; group membership; Segregation; segregation; gender-specific factors; sozioökonomische Faktoren; socioeconomic factors; Datengewinnung; data capture; Simulation; simulation; vergleichende Forschung; comparative research; index of dissimilarity; composition; context; multilevel modelling
SSOAR Kategorie:Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften, Allgemeine Soziologie, Makrosoziologie, spezielle Theorien und Schulen, Entwicklung und Geschichte der Soziologie
Gender of interviewer effects in a multitopic centralized CATI panel survey
Autor/in:
Lipps, Oliver; Lutz, Georg
Quelle: Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 11 (2017) 1, S 67-86
Inhalt: "This paper is motivated by two recent articles which show that numerous studies which analyzed
gender of interviewer effects did not take interviewer nonresponse selection effects into account. For example, interviewers may be more successful at recruiting respondents with characteristics similar to themselves and who give answers that are similar to their own, and this may result in spurious gender of interviewer effects. Our research is novel because it uses data from a large panel survey in which the same respondent is asked the same questions repeatedly by interviewers of random genders using the centralized telephone
mode. We use the panel design to show the importance of checking for all relevant variables in models where selection may cause bias. To this end, we use respondent fixed effects models as a reference to yield unbiased coefficients. We find gender of interviewer effects that are in line with social desirability theory on gender issues such as female discrimination. However, not all gender-related questions are affected by gender of interviewer effects and, in addition, we do not find any effects on political and (factual) household task related questions. In line with the notion of social distance, there is a higher likelihood that answers respondents are less comfortable with are given to interviewers of the same gender regarding (sensitive) health questions." (author's abstract)
The impact of method bias on the cross-cultural comparability in face-to-face surveys among ethnic minorities
Autor/in:
Kappelhof, Joost W. S.
Quelle: Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 8 (2014) 1, S 79-118
Inhalt: "This article investigates the impact of several sources of method bias on the cross-cultural comparison of attitudes towards gender roles and family ties among non-Western minority ethnic groups. In particular, it investigates how interviewer effects, the use of an interviewer with a shared ethnic background, interview language, interviewer gender, gender matching, the presence of others during the interview and differences in socio-demographic sample composition of non-Western minority ethnic groups affect the cross-cultural comparison of attitudes towards gender roles and family ties between these groups. The data used in this study come from a large scale face-to face survey conducted among the four largest non-Western minority ethnic groups in The Netherlands for which Statistics Netherlands drew a random sample of named individuals from each of the four largest non-Western minority populations living in The Netherlands. Furthermore, methods are introduced to estimate the potential impact of method bias on cross cultural comparisons. The results show that measurement of both gender roles and family ties constructs are full scalar invariant across the different ethnic groups, but that observed differences in attitudes between ethnic groups especially towards gender roles are influenced by method bias. This in turn leads to biased comparisons between ethnic groups because of differences in the size of the various sources of method bias, the differential impact of the same method bias between ethnic groups and the combination thereof." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:ethnische Gruppe; ethnic group; Minderheit; minority; Befragung; survey; Interview; interview; Geschlechtsrolle; gender role; Familie; family; Niederlande; Netherlands; soziale Integration; social integration; kulturelle Integration; cultural integration; interkultureller Vergleich; intercultural comparison; Forschungsreaktivität; reactivity effect; Antwortverhalten; response behavior; Umfrageforschung; survey research; methods bias; non-Western ethnic minorities; incomparability of samples; multi group Mimic
SSOAR Kategorie:Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften