Professional Documents
Culture Documents
References
Groves R.M. et al. Survey methodology, Wileyinterscience, 2004 Canada national statistical agency: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ Eurostat methodological publications European Values Study (EVS)
Inference
Characteristics of a respondent
Statistical computing
Inference
Perform analysis
Sample
Response
Respondent Edited Response Survey statistics The Measurement dimension describes what data are to be collected about the observational units in the sample The Representational dimention concerns what population are described by the survey
Postsurvey Adjustments
Response
Edited Response
Editing of data may examine the full distribution of answers and look for atypical patterns of responses
Edited responses are the data from wich inference is made about the values of the construct for an individual respondent
The frame population if the set of target population members that has chance to be selected into the survey sample : Sampling Frame
In a simple case it is a list of all units in the target population, but sometimes it is a set of units imperfectly linked to population members. i.e. a list of telephone numbers when the target population is the adult population
Sample
The sample is the group from wich measurement will be sought. In many case it is a very small fraction of the the sampling frame Respondents are the elements successfully measures.
Respondent
Postsurvey Adjustments
Postsurvey adjustments consist on weighting up the underrepresented groups in order to improve the survey estimate
Because of mismatches of the sampling frame and the target population (coverage problems) statistics based on the respondents can differ from caracteristics of the target population. Examination of non response patterns may suggest an underrepresentation of some groupes relative to the sampling frame
Covered population
Ineligible units Elements in the frame that are no member of the target population
i.e.:business telephone numbers, using a telephone frame to cover the full household population
Undercoverage
Target population
Focus groups
Questionnaire pretest
FAX
Computerised Self Administered Questionnaires
Mail Telephone
Disk by Mail
Web
CATI
computer assisted telephone interviewing
TDE
Touchtone data entry
IVR
Interactive voice response
Face to face
SAQ
Self administered questionnaire
FAX
Disk by Mail
Web
Telephone
CATI
computer assisted telephone interviewing
TDE
Touchtone data entry
IVR
Interactive voice response
Face to face
SAQ
Self administered questionnaire
BUT
Respondents often take shortcuts to get through the interview more quickly
OR
they have motives that override their desire to provide accurate information Responses could be biased by acquiescence (the tendency to agree) social desirability (the tendency to present oneself in a favourable light by underreporting undesirable attributes and overreporting desirable one)
Satisficing respondents do not seek to understand the question completely, just well enough to provide a reasonable answer
Note that : The respondent may not wait to hear or read all the option; they may select the firs reasonable answer they consider (primacy effect) The opposite coul happen: the last option the interviewer read may be the first one that respondent think about (recency effect)
GUIDELINES FOR WRITING GOOD QUESTIONS (Sudman and Bradburn) Non sensitive questions about behavior
The key problem with many questions about behavios is that respondents may forget some or all of the relevant information, or that their answer may reflect inaccurate estimate In order to reduce memory problems it is essential to play attention to the wording of the question and to provide memory help
Attitude questions
Attitude questions are a very commen class of survey questions. The most frequent problems deals with the wording of questions, the question order and the format of response scales
Over the last month, that is .. how often do you read a newspaper in a tipical week?
Do you think the Government is spending too litte, about the right amount, or too much on higher education?
Do you think the Government is spending too litte, about the right amount, or too much on education?
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Government is spending too little on education 1 Agree strongly 2 Agree 3 Neither agree nor disagree 4 Disagree 5 Disagree strongly
*note that an attitude have generally a direction (agree or disagree) and an intensity (strongly disagree.strongly agree)
When asking questions about about multiple items, start with the least popular
(the unpopular questions are likely to seem even less appealing when they follow more popular questions)
When asking general and specific questions about a topic, ask the general question first
Please tell me whether or not you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if: the woman wants it for any reason? 1. Yes 2. No 3. Don't know Please tell me whether or not you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if: there is a strong chance of a serious defect in the baby? 1. Yes 2. No 3. Don't know
USA GSS
Use five-to seven-point response scales and label every scale point
(verbal label ensure that interpret the scale in the same way)
Now is up to you!