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The European Statistical Training Programme (ESTP)
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Chapter 7: Reducing nonresponse
Handbook: chapter 3 Introduction Main causes of nonresponse Theories for survey participation Methods to reduce nonresponse
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Introduction What to do about the nonresponse problem?
Prevent it from happening in the field Nonresponse reduction Before and during fieldwork Correct estimates for possible bias Nonresponse adjustment After the data have been collected Nonresponse reduction: Why do persons not participate? How can this be prevented?
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Main causes of nonresponse
Not able (due to language problems) Non-contact Refusal Not able due to language problems mostly occurs among nonnative persons. Non-contact can be caused by various reasons. Groves and Couper (1998) present a model relating contact to three causes: At-home pattern Physical impediments Call pattern Refusals are different; this is a conscious decision.
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Theories for survey participation
Social exchange theory (Blau, 1964; Dillman, 1978; Goyder, 1987) Cost-benefit analysis resulting in a rationale decision Leverage-salience theory (Groves et al., 2000) Theory of interaction between survey design features and sociodemographic characteristics of the respondent. Interviewer can make attributes more salient, thereby (positively) influencing the participation decision. Groves, Cialdini and Couper (1992): Three components that influence survey participation Sociodemographic and survey design features Respondent-interviewer interaction Tailoring and maintaining interaction
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Influences of socio-demographic and survey design features
Socio-demographic factors Number of surveys conducted in society Perceived legitimacy of surveys Attributes of the survey design Mode of data collection Length of the interview Length of fieldwork period Survey topic Attributes of the interviewer Socio-demographic attributes Expectations Experience
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Respondent – interviewer interaction
Social psychological research areas: Compliance Helping tendency Opinion change Cialdini (1988) specifies 6 compliance principles Reciprocation Consistency Social validation Authority Scarcity Liking
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Respondent – interviewer interaction
Helping tendency ‘norm of social responsibility’ or helping norm Emotional state of respondent Opinion change Distinguish between systematic and heuristic decision processes Systematic: review of intrinsic features Heuristic: extrinsic features Decision to participate in a survey usually heuristic
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Tailoring and maintaining interaction
Adapting the approach to the sample element Maintaining interaction Maximising the probability to obtain cooperation from each sample element (probability sampling) Maximise the number of acceptances per time unit (quota sampling) Be able to apply more tailoring techniques
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Methods to reduce nonresponse
Language problems: Multilingual interviewers Translating questionnaires Having a family member act as interpreter Non-contact Increase the number of contact attempts Longer fieldwork period Lower the interviewer workload Evening calls more profitable than daytime calls Make contact in a different mode Sending a reminder Personalizing the letter of invitation Mentioning the duration of the survey
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Methods to reduce nonresponse
Refusals Advance letter Incentive Interviewer training Mixed-mode data collection Proxy respondents
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Mixed-mode data collection
Every mode has its weaknesses and its strengths CAPI: expensive, good quality data CATI: cheaper, but not every person has a telephone Mixing modes provides an opportunity to compensate for weaknesses of the individual modes Interviewer No interviewer Paper PAPI Mail-survey Laptop CAPI CASAQ Telephone CATI Voice response Internet CAWI Web-survey
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Mixed-mode designs A mixed-mode design consists of a combination of two or more data collection modes Three possibilities: Concurrent Sequential Choice to the respondent
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