Reasons for refusals, their collection in surveys and interviewer impact
Autor/in:
Menold, Natalja; Züll, Cornelia
Quelle: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften; Mannheim (GESIS-Working Papers, 2010/11), 2010. 35 S
Inhalt: "Refusals are a significant source of non-response in surveys. During field periods of some surveys reasons for refusals are collected in call record data (as part of para-data). This article presents a study employing a content analysis of open-ended comments on reasons for refusals collected by interviewers in a survey of the German population (ALLBUS). We analysed the reasons for refusals contained in these comments, as well as to what extent these comments include information about factors relevant to participation in surveys. Additionally, we analysed the impact of interviewer characteristics – gender, age, education and experience – on data collection using various multilevel multinomial models. The results show that interviewer comments provide typical reasons for refusals, as well as specific information about target persons, their environment and the survey process. Interviewers' age and education influenced the collection of reasons for refusals. At the same time interviewer variances (obtained through multinomial multilevel models) were very high, showing that interviewers prefer to report certain reasons for refusals. The highest interviewer level variances were obtained for providing no comments at all. To improve data quality and reduce high interviewer impact, we suggest using
improved standardised instruments to collect reasons for refusals. Codings based on a categorisation scheme which we developed for our content analysis show high reliability (kappa = .81). Thus, this scheme can be used as a basis for developing such standardised instruments." (author's abstract)
Autor/in:
Bollinger, Christopher R.; Hirsch, Barry T.
Quelle: Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten (RatSWD); Berlin (RatSWD Working Paper Series, 165), 2010. 22 S
Inhalt: "Earnings nonresponse in the Current Population Survey is roughly 30% in the monthly surveys and 20% in the annual March survey. Even if nonresponse is random, severe bias attaches to wage equation coefficient estimates on attributes not matched in the earnings imputation hot deck. If nonresponse is ignorable, unbiased estimates can be achieved by omitting imputed earners, yet little is known about whether or not CPS nonresponse is ignorable. Using sample frame measures to identify selection, we find clear-cut evidence among men but limited evidence among women for negative selection into response. Wage equation slope coefficients are affected little by
selection but because of intercept shifts, wages for men and to a lesser extent women are understated, as are gender wage gaps. Selection is less severe among household heads/co-heads than among other household members." [author's abstract]
The effect of interviewer and respondent characteristics on refusals in a panel survey
Titelübersetzung:Charakteristika von Interviewern und Befragten in ihrem Einfluss auf Antwortverweigerung bei einer Panel-Studie
Autor/in:
Loosveldt, Geert; Carton, Ann; Pickery, Jan
Quelle: Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen -ZUMA-; Koch, Achim; Porst, Rolf; International Workshop on Household Survey Nonresponse; Mannheim (ZUMA-Nachrichten Spezial, 4), 1998. S 249-262
Inhalt: Die vorliegende Untersuchung basiert auf Daten einer Panelstudie aus dem Bereich der Wahlforschung. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass politisch Interessierte mit höherer Wahrscheinlichkeit an der zweiten Welle einer Panel-Studie teilnehmen und dass der erste Kontakt für das zweite Interview vor allem bei Frauen mit niedrigem Bildungsstand sehr wichtig ist. Der Interviewereffekt wurde mit Hilfe einer Mehrebenenanalyse untersucht. Diese Analyse zeigt, dass der von den Interviewern des Jahres 1991 auf die Antwortverweigerungen 1995 ausgehende Effekt stärker war als der Effekt, der von den Interviewern des Jahres 1995 ausgelöst wurde. Dieses bemerkenswerte Ergebnis unterstreicht die Bedeutung, die die beim ersten Interview gemachten Erfahrungen haben. Anhand verschiedener Charakteristika wurden die Unterschiede zwischen den Interviewern modelliert. Ein signifikanter Effekt ging nur von der Anzahl der Interviews aus, die ein Interviewer durchführte: mehr Interviews bedeuten mehr Verweigerungen. (ICEÜbers)
Inhalt: "In this paper data from an election panel survey are used. The results make clear that respondents who are more interested in politics are more likely to take part in the second interview of an election panel survey and that the initial contact for the second interview is extremely important for the group of poorly educated women. To evaluate the effect of the interviewer a multi level analysis was done. The results of this analysis show that the effect of the interviewers used in '91 an the refusals realized in '95 is more significant then the effect of the interviewers used in '95. This remarkable result stresses the importance of the experience of the first interview. Several interviewer characteristics were used to model the differences between the interviewers. Only the number of interviews done by an interviewer has a significant effect: more interviews result in more refusals." (author's abstract)