© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Data Collection: Enhancing Response Rates while Limiting Errors Chapter 10, Student Edition MR/Brown & Suter 1

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objectives MR/Brown & Suter2 1. Describe the five types of error that can enter a study 2. Give the general definition for response rate 3. Discuss several ways in which response rates might be improved

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objectives MR/Brown & Suter3 1. Describe the five types of error that can enter a study 2. Give the general definition for response rate 3. Discuss several ways in which response rates might be improved

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 1 MR/Brown & Suter4 Sampling Error Noncoverage Error Nonresponse Error Response Error Office Error

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 1 MR/Brown & Suter5  Sampling error – the difference between results obtained from a sample and results that would have been obtained had information been gathered from or about every member of the population  Sampling error is decreased by increasing sample size  Can be estimated (assuming probability sample)  Usually less troublesome than other kinds of error

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 1 MR/Brown & Suter6  Noncoverage error – nonsampling error that arises because of a failure to include some units, or entire sections, of the defined target population in the sampling frame  Noncoverage error is basically a sampling frame problem  Can be reduced, although not necessarily eliminated, by recognizing its existence and working to improve the sampling frame

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 1 MR/Brown & Suter7  Nonresponse error – nonsampling error that represents a failure to obtain information from some elements of the population that were selected and designated for the sample  This is a potential problem that only occurs when those who do respond are systematically different in some important way from those who don’t respond  Example – A university wants to assess the success of its graduates, based on their annual salaries, five years after graduation  Which graduates are more likely (less likely) to return their survey? Those who are happy (unhappy) with their salaries.

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 1 MR/Brown & Suter8  Response error occurs when an individual provides a response to an item, but the response is inaccurate for some reason  Possible causes of response error include  Does the respondent understand the question?  Does the respondent know the answer to the question?  Is the respondent willing to provide the true answer to the question?  Is the wording of the question or the situation in which it is asked likely to bias the response?

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 1 MR/Brown & Suter9  Office error – nonsampling errors that arise in the editing, coding, or analysis phases of research  Most office errors can be reduced, if not eliminated, by exercising proper controls in data processing

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objectives MR/Brown & Suter10 1. Describe the five types of error that can enter a study 2. Give the general definition for response rate 3. Discuss several ways in which response rates might be improved

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 2 MR/Brown & Suter11  Response rate is defined as the number of completed interviews with responding units divided by the number of eligible responding units in the sample  The general response rate calculation is  RR = CI/E  RR = Response Rate;  CI = Number of Completed Interviews with Responding Units;  E = Number of Eligible Responding Units in the Sample

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 2 MR/Brown & Suter12  The response rate calculation for Web-based and mail surveys is  RR = UQR/(CA - BA)  RR = Response Rate;  UQR = Number of Usable Questionnaires Returned;  CA = Number of Contacts Attempted;  BA = Number of Bad Addresses

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 2 MR/Brown & Suter13  The response rate calculation for telephone surveys (no eligibility requirement) is  RR = CI/(CI + R + NAH)  RR = Response Rate;  CI = Number of Completed Interviews;  R = Number of Refusals;  NAH = Number of Not-At-Homes

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 2 MR/Brown & Suter14  The response rate calculation for telephone surveys (with eligibility requirement) is  RR = CI/(CI + E% (R + NAH))  RR = Response Rate;  CI = Number of Completed Interviews;  E = Percentage of Eligible Interviewees  R = Number of Refusals;  NAH = Number of Not-At-Homes  E% = CI/(CI + IE)  IE = Number of Ineligible Interviewees

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objectives MR/Brown & Suter15 1. Describe the five types of error that can enter a study 2. Give the general definition for response rate 3. Discuss several ways in which response rates might be improved

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Objective 3 MR/Brown & Suter16  Survey Length  Guarantee of Confidentiality or Anonymity  Interviewer Characteristics and Training  Personalization  Response Incentives  Follow-Up Surveys