Dealing with Space and Place in Standard Survey Data
Autor/in:
Hillmert, Steffen; Hartung, Andreas; Weßling, Katarina
Quelle: Survey Research Methods, 11 (2017) 3, S 267-287
Inhalt: Heterogeneity of local conditions and spatial dependencies are typical aspects of sociological phenomena. However, large-scale empirical data is often rather limited with regard to the spatial references that are (publicly) available to researchers. We describe several aspects of the problem and assess possibilities and potential errors associated with limited information. Our examples are returns to education and gender-based and migration-related wage gaps as popular research topics. We base our analyses upon widely used survey data from Germany, the GSOEP, which contains geographical information on various levels of aggregation. Our particular interest is in the decisions that have to be made with regard to problems of space and place in standard surveys, available options and consequences. We conclude with a number of practical suggestions for data users.
The effectiveness of the item count technique in eliciting valid answers to sensitive questions: an evaluation in the context of self-reported delinquency
Titelübersetzung:Die Effektivität der Item-Zähl-Technik bei der Gewinnung valider Antworten auf sensitive Fragen: eine Evaluation im Kontext selbst berichteter Delinquenz
Autor/in:
Wolter, Felix; Laier, Bastian
Quelle: Survey Research Methods, 8 (2014) 3, S 153-168
Inhalt: "Surveys often contain sensitive questions, that is, questions about private, illegal, or socially undesirable behavior. When asked directly in standard survey modes, respondents tend to underreport these behaviors, yielding biased results. One method that promises more valid estimates than direct questioning (DQ) is the item count technique (ICT). In this paper, methodological benefits and disadvantages of the ICT, as compared to DQ, are empirically evaluated with regard to questions on self-reported delinquency. We present findings from a face-to-face survey of 552 respondents who had been convicted under criminal law prior to the survey. The results show that, first, subjective measures of survey quality such as trust in anonymity or willingness to respond are not affected positively by the ICT with the exception that interviewers feel less uncomfortable asking sensitive questions in ICT mode than in DQ mode. Second, all prevalence estimates of self-reported delinquent behaviors are significantly higher in ICT than in DQ mode. Third, a regression model on determinants of response behavior indicates that the effect of the ICT on response validity varies by gender. All in all, our results are in favor of the ICT. This technique is a promising alternative to other special questioning techniques such as the much more complicated randomized response technique (RRT)." (author's abstract)
Age and sex effects in anchoring vignette studies: methodological and empirical contributions
Titelübersetzung:Alters- und Geschlechtseffekte bei "anchoring vignette"-Studien: methodologische und empirische Beiträge
Autor/in:
Grol-Prokopczyk, Hanna
Quelle: Survey Research Methods, 8 (2014) 1, S 1-17
Inhalt: "Anchoring vignettes are an increasingly popular tool for identifying and correcting for group differences in use of subjective ordered response categories. However, existing techniques to maximize response consistency (use of the same standards for self-ratings as for vignette-ratings), which center on matching vignette characters' demographic characteristics to respondents' own characteristics, appear at times to be ineffective or to pose interpretive difficulties. Specifically, respondents often appear to neglect instructions to treat vignette characters as age peers. Furthermore, when vignette characters' sex is matched to respondents' sex, interpretation of sex differences in rating style is rendered problematic. This study applies two experimental manipulations to a national American sample (n=1,765) to clarify best practices for enhancing response consistency. First, an analysis of two methods of highlighting vignette characters' age suggests that both yield better response consistency than previous, less prominent means. Second, a comparison of ratings of same- and opposite-sex vignette characters suggests that, with avoidable exceptions, the sex of the respondent rather than of the vignette character drives observed sex differences in rating style. Implications for interpretation and design of anchoring vignette studies are discussed. Findings also show significant sex, educational, and racial/ethnic differences in styles of rating health, and racial/ethnic differences in styles of rating political efficacy. These findings underscore the incomparability of unadjusted subjective self-ratings across demographic groups." (publisher's description)
Employed or inactive? Cross-national differences in coding parental leave beneficiaries in European labour force survey data
Titelübersetzung:Beschäftigt oder nicht aktiv? Internationale Unterschiede beim Codieren von Elterngeldbeziehern in europäischen Umfrage-Daten zum Arbeitspotenzial
Autor/in:
Mikucka, Malgorzata; Valentova, Marie
Quelle: Survey Research Methods, 7 (2013) 3, S 169-179
Inhalt: "In survey research the parental leave beneficiaries are usually coded as either employed or inactive. An exception is the European Labor Force Survey (EU-LFS), which includes parental leave among other forms of being employed but temporarily not working. This paper explores classification of parental leave takers in EU-LFS. The authors show that classification rules differ cross-nationally: in some countries parental leave takers are considered inactive, in others - employed but temporarily not working. In particular in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Slovakia the EU-LFS data classify the beneficiaries as inactive. The authors estimate the number of mothers on parental leave in these countries and show that EU-LFS employment rates of women aged 18-40 are biased downwards 2-7 percentage points; for mothers of children aged 0-2 the bias reaches 12-45 percentage points. Their study shows the limited comparability of EU-LFS employment rates and warns about possible bias in cross-national studies." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:parental leave; classification; Elternurlaub; Erwerbsbeteiligung; internationaler Vergleich; Klassifikation; labor force participation; international comparison; Mutterschaftsurlaub; error; maternity leave; Fehler
SSOAR Kategorie:Arbeitsmarktforschung, Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften
Personalisation in advance letters does not always increase response rates: demographic correlates in a large scale experiment
Titelübersetzung:Personalisierung in Voraus-Briefen erhöhen nicht immer die Antwortraten: demographische Korrelationen in einem Großversuch
Autor/in:
Luiten, Annemieke
Quelle: Survey Research Methods, 5 (2011) 1, S 11-20
Inhalt: "This study was set up to examine whether personalizing advance letters by adding names and appropriate salutation, affects the survey cooperation of subgroups in the general population differently, in analogy to findings that subgroups react differently to advance letters. Differential reactions could be an explanation for the mixed findings in the literature on personalization of advance or cover letters. In a large scale study (N=39,518), information in communal registries was used to study (non)response patterns in subgroups, as a result of personalization. Advance letters of the Dutch CAPI Labor Force Survey were randomly assigned to addresses. In the non-personalized version (N=30,899), letters were addressed to 'the inhabitants of '. In the personalized version (N=8,619), the name or names of the household core were derived from municipal registries and used for addressing the letter. A re-interview addressed the issue whether the advance letter was read by more households when the household was addressed by name. By linking the sample to registries, it was possible to study response behavior of subgroups. The study focused on groups the literature indicates as differentially reacting to advance letters, i.e., different age, ethnic, gender, household composition and income groups, and groups with or without a listed telephone number. Hardly any difference in the overall level of cooperation was found if either a personalized or non-personalized letter was used. However, differential reactions were found for listed versus unlisted telephone owners, where only listed households reacted positively to personalization. In the other subgroups studied, no firm evidence of differential reactions were found. The paper discusses what these results signify for sample composition and the risk of bias." (author's abstract)
Fitting a linear model to survey data when the long-term average daily intake of a dietary component is an explanatory variable
Titelübersetzung:Verbesserung eines linearen Modells von Längsschnittdaten zur Nahrungsmittelaufnahme von diätetischen Komponenten als erklärende Variable von Gesundheit
Autor/in:
Kott, Phillip S.; Guenther, Patricia M.; Wagstaff, David A.; Juan, WenYen; Kranz, Sibylle
Quelle: Survey Research Methods, 3 (2009) 3, S 157-165
Inhalt: "The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collects information on both dietary intake and health conditions from a complex sample of individuals in the US. Instrumental-variable regression can be used to model an individual's health-related attribute as a linear function of explanatory variables including the average daily intake of dietary components. This overcomes the apparent limitation of the NHANES collecting dietary intake data on only two days per sampled individual because the averages of two days per individual exhibit considerable intra-individual variability. Readily available software routines can perform survey-sensitive instrumental-variable regression with data like that collected by the NHANES, but the relevant quantitative literature is not clear about what parameters these routines are actually estimating. The authors fit the long-term (usual) serum beta-carotene level of a population of women aged 20-64 to a linear function of each woman's long-term average (usual) daily beta-carotene intake from food and other explanatory variables using survey-sensitive instrumental regression and provide two interpretations of the results." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:nutrition; Gesundheit; North America; regression analysis; Nahrungsmittel; ernährungsbedingte Krankheit; health consequences; nutrition-related illness; Nordamerika; remuneration for members of parliament; Lebensalter; United States of America; Verhalten; food; Lebenserwartung; behavior; Regressionsanalyse; life expectancy; Lebensmittel; Mittelwert; USA; woman; Ernährung; gesundheitliche Folgen; mean; Diäten; age; health
SSOAR Kategorie:Forschungsarten der Sozialforschung, Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften, Gesundheitspolitik
Impact of mixed survey modes on physical activity and fruit/ vegetable consumption: a longitudinal study
Titelübersetzung:Einsatz gemischter Umfragemethoden über körperliche Aktivitäten und Obst-/ Gemüseverbrauch: eine Längsschnittuntersuchung
Autor/in:
Nigg, Claudio R.; Motl, Robert W.; Wong, Kristin T.; Yoda, Lisa U.; McCurdy, Dana K.; Paxton, Raheem; Horwath, Caroline C.; Dishman, Rod K.
Quelle: Survey Research Methods, 3 (2009) 2, S 81-90
Inhalt: "It is recommended that researchers who use mixed modal methods for data collection compare their impact on outcome measures. The purpose of this study was to examine the physical activity and fruit/ vegetable consumption behaviors of a multiethnic sample of adults, comparing participants who continued a telephone survey and those who transitioned from a telephone to a web-based survey for a follow-up data collection point. This longitudinal study used a random sample of 700 Hawaii residents (63.3% Female; Mean age=47, SD=17.1). At baseline, participants completed a computer-assisted telephone interview assessing the stage, behavior, and decisional balance of both physical activity and fruit/ vegetable consumption. For the three-month follow-up survey, participants were given the option of completing the survey either on the web or by phone. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was computed for related physical activity scales and fruit/ vegetable consumption variables to compare the change in response across time between a web group and phone group. For both physical activity and fruit/ vegetable consumption, all mode-by-time interactions were significant). The participants who preferred the telephone survey maintained their levels, whereas those who preferred the web survey reported a decrease in each variable. These results suggest that changing the mode of a survey may introduce a systematic bias in data and that researchers should proceed with caution when using mixed modes of data collection." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:US citizen; vegetarianism; online survey; Internet; North America; comparison of methods; eating behavior; Agrarprodukt; telephone interview; Verbraucher; Nordamerika; Vegetarismus; influence; consumer; Telefoninterview; United States of America; Essverhalten; Methodenvergleich; activity; sports; Online-Befragung; Sport; US-Amerikaner; USA; Einfluss; Konsumverhalten; consumption behavior; Internet; Aktivität; gender-specific factors; agricultural product
SSOAR Kategorie:Forschungsarten der Sozialforschung, Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften
Differential response rates in postal and web-based surveys in older respondents
Titelübersetzung:Unterschiedliche Antwortraten bei postalischen und webbasierten Untersuchungen bei älteren Befragten
Autor/in:
Bech, Mickael; Kristensen, Morton Bo
Quelle: Survey Research Methods, 3 (2009) 1, S 1-6
Inhalt: "Response rates were compared across a postal and a web-based survey containing the same questions about preferences for future for the design of future nursing homes which were sent to a random sample of 10.000 individuals aged 50-75 years. The 10.000 individuals were randomly allocated to receive a postal questionnaire or a letter with a web link to an online version of the same questionnaire. The web-based survey gave a significantly lower response rate than the postal survey. The web-based version improved the sample representativeness with respect to gender but worsened the representativeness with respect to age. Respondents' characteristics in the web-based survey differed significantly from those of respondents in the postal survey with respect to income, education, civil status and health status. The web-based version improved data quality by significantly lowering the number of item non-response and 'don't know' answers. Respondents found it easier to answer the web-based survey. The cost per response was significantly higher for the web-based survey because of the significantly lower response rate compared to the postal survey." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:website; alter Mensch; Internet; Pflegeheim; postalische Befragung; Denmark; Datenqualität; questionnaire; data quality; Dänemark; Fragebogen; Antwortverhalten; cost-benefit analysis; representativity; survey; future; Befragung; Zukunft; Website; Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse; Repräsentativität; Internet; mail survey; elderly; response behavior; nursing home
SSOAR Kategorie:Forschungsarten der Sozialforschung, Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften
Variance estimation for complex indicators of poverty and inequality using linearization techniques
Titelübersetzung:Varianzenschätzung für komplexe Indikatoren von Armut und Ungleichheit bei Verwendung von Linearisierungstechniken
Autor/in:
Osier, Guillaume
Quelle: Survey Research Methods, 3 (2009) 3, S 167-195
Inhalt: "The paper presents the Eurostat experience in calculating measures of precision, including standard errors, confidence intervals and design effect coefficients - the ratio of the variance of a statistic with the actual sample design to the variance of that statistic with a simple random sample of same size - for the 'Laeken' indicators, that is, a set of complex indicators of poverty and inequality which had been set out in the framework of the EU-SILC project (European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions). The Taylor linearization method (Tepping, 1968; Woodru, 1971; Wolter, 1985; Tillé, 2000) is actually a well-established method to obtain variance estimators for nonlinear statistics such as ratios, correlation or regression coefficients. It consists of approximating a nonlinear statistic with a linear function of the observations by using first-order Taylor Series expansions. Then, an easily found variance estimator of the linear approximation is used as an estimator of the variance of the nonlinear statistic. Although the Taylor linearization method handles all the nonlinear statistics which can be expressed as a smooth function of estimated totals, the approach fails to encompass the 'Laeken' indicators since the latter are having more complex mathematical expressions. Consequently, a generalized linearization method (Deville, 1999), which relies on the concept of influence function (Hampel, Ronchetti, Rousseeuw and Stahel, 1986), has been implemented. After presenting the EU-SILC instrument and the main target indicators for which variance estimates are needed, the paper elaborates on the main features of the linearization approach based on influence functions. Ultimately, estimated standard errors, confidence intervals and design effect coefficients obtained from this approach are presented and discussed." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:EU; Dauerarbeitslosigkeit; education; European Commission; Schätzung; statistical method; risk; Europäische Kommission; Methode; persistent unemployment; social inequality; Einkommensverteilung; inequality; unemployment; poverty; EU; Bildung; gender; Lebenserwartung; income; analysis of variance; Berichterstattung; statistische Methode; Armut; income distribution; Arbeitslosigkeit; Risiko; life expectancy; method; Lebensbedingungen; Einkommen; living conditions; linear model; estimation; lineares Modell; Ungleichheit; soziale Ungleichheit; reporting; Varianzanalyse
SSOAR Kategorie:Forschungsarten der Sozialforschung, Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften, Europapolitik, soziale Probleme