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
Why were there three? Determinants of the presence of
an intimate partner during face-to-face interviews
Autor/in:
Preetz, Richard; Langeheine, Malte
Quelle: Survey Methods: Insights from the Field, (2017) , 17 S
Inhalt: This study analyses determinants of the presence of an intimate partner during face-to-face
interviews. Based on theoretical assumptions about opportunity structure, social control,
social support, and companionship, we investigated partner presence using data from the first
wave of the German Family Panel (pairfam). Descriptive results revealed that an intimate
partner was present in every seventh interview. Multivariate results using separate logistic
regression models for the presence of the female (n = 3,272) and the male partner (n = 2,348)
revealed that the opportunity structure, such as the couple’s living arrangements or their
employment status, had the greatest influence on the presence of both female and male
partners. Gender differences existed for social control, social support and companionship.
The results suggest that partner presence could most easily be prevented by taking into
account the opportunity structure.
Schlagwörter:soziale Kontrolle; social control; soziale Unterstützung; social support; gender-specific factors; Interview; interview; Determinanten; determinants; Messung; measurement; Antwortverhalten; response behavior; Federal Republic of Germany; Kommunikation; communication; Struktur; structure; Selbsteinschätzung; self-assessment; Selbstwertgefühl; self-esteem; Partnerschaft; partnership; interview characteristics; intimate partner; survey management; third person; pairfam
SSOAR Kategorie:Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften
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)
Das unterschätzte Potenzial hoher Fallzahlen - Stärken und Limitierungen des Mikrozensus am Beispiel von Fertilitätsanalysen
Titelübersetzung:The unrecognised potential of large N - strengths and limitations of the German Microcensus exemplified by fertility research
Autor/in:
Bujard, Martin; Dorbritz, Jürgen; Herter-Eschweiler, Robert; Lux, Linda
Quelle: Zeitschrift für Familienforschung, 27 (2015) 3, S 343-372
Inhalt: "Aufgrund der hohen Fallzahlen (688.931 Personen in 2012) ist das Potenzial des Mikrozensus (MZ) für demografische und familiensoziologische Analysen groß, zudem inhaltlich durch die Erhebung der Geburten von Frauen noch gestiegen. Der Beitrag hat zum Ziel, methodische Hintergründe, Limitierungen und Potenziale des MZ am Beispiel von Fertilität systematisch aufzuzeigen. Die Analyse von Antwortverweigerungen zeigt, dass die Art der Befragung einen starken Einfluss hat, deren Verzerrungen durch Imputationen deutlich reduziert werden konnten. Die Limitierungen sind v.a. das Querschnittsdesign sowie die fehlenden Daten zur Kinderzahl von Männern und zur Binnenmobilität. Die hohen Fallzahlen des MZ ermöglichen tiefenscharfe Differenzierungen bezüglich Sozialstruktur, Paritäten und Zeitverläufe, was anhand von Konfidenzintervallen diskutiert wird. Drei Forschungsdesigns, die die Analysepotenziale nutzen, werden vorgestellt: Dendrogrammanalysen ermöglichen gruppenspezifische Differenzierungen nach fünf Ebenen und zeigen so ein detailliertes Muster der Kinderlosigkeit. Der Verlauf von Paritätsmustern im Kohortenvergleich verdeutlicht die je nach beruflicher Bildung unterschiedlichen Verläufe. Die Analysen zur altersspezifischen Häufigkeit von Erstgeburten ermöglichen, Trends von nachholenden Geburten für verschiedene Bildungsgruppen zu identifizieren." (Autorenreferat)
Inhalt: "Due to a large number of cases (688.931 persons in 2012) the German Microcensus has a huge potential for analyses in demography and family sociology. Content is further improved by the new voluntary question on biological children of women. This paper aims to systematically assess the methodological background as well as limitations and potentials of the Microcensus using the example of fertility data. The analyses of nonresponse show that the way of questioning has a strong impact. The related bias could, however, be reduced by imputations. The main limitations are the cross-sectional design and missing data on the children of men and internal migration. The potential of the high case numbers of the Microcensus is systematically discussed by analyzing confidence intervals: It allows for in-dept differentiations for analyzing social structure, birth parities and time patterns. Finally, we discuss three research designs which are able to use this potential: Dendrogram analyses allow group differentiations for up to five levels and thus reveal detailed patterns of childlessness. Parity patterns by cohorts illustrate differences by occupational education. Third, the age-specific analyses of first births among several cohorts allow for identifying trends of recuperation which differ considerable between educational groups." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:Mikrozensus; microcensus; Antwortverhalten; response behavior; Befragung; survey; Interview; interview; Datengewinnung; data capture; Schätzung; estimation; Kinderlosigkeit; childlessness; Fruchtbarkeit; fertility; Geburtenentwicklung; birth trend; Sozialstruktur; social structure; soziale Faktoren; social factors; demographische Faktoren; demographic factors; sozioökonomische Faktoren; socioeconomic factors; Bildungsniveau; level of education; Federal Republic of Germany; Imputationen
SSOAR Kategorie:Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften, Familiensoziologie, Sexualsoziologie, Bevölkerung
How to weight survey data with a dyadic multi-actor design?
Autor/in:
Pasteels, Inge
Quelle: Survey Methods: Insights from the Field, (2015) , 11 S
Inhalt: This paper deals with adjustment for nonresponse in dyadic multi-actor survey designs. It presents a multi-dimensional approach to
weighting that addresses the various analytical units represented in such data, so that sampling design weights are correctly accounted
for and so that consistency between weights is achieved. This approach is demonstrated by using the primary respondents in the Divorce
in Flanders study, which is a typical example of a dyadic multi-actor design. Five sets of weighting coefficients are made available
whereby different subsets of data, according to different analytical units, are selected: the subset of the dyads, the subset of men and
women respectively, and two subsets of marriages. Post-stratification – with the year of marriage, status of the reference marriage at the
sampling date and five-year divorce cohort as auxiliary variables – was chosen as the weighting adjustment technique.
Schlagwörter:Gewichtung; weighting; Antwortverhalten; response behavior; Stichprobe; sample; soziale Schichtung; social stratification; Analyseverfahren; analysis procedure; Zufallsauswahl; random sample; Umfrageforschung; survey research
SSOAR Kategorie:Erhebungstechniken und Analysetechniken der Sozialwissenschaften
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)
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