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An Examination Of Sms-Related Nonresponse Bias, Matthew Hastings

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

With the proliferation of mobile information and communications technologies, researchers face new opportunities for data collection and challenges to data quality. Short message service (SMS) or “text messaging” is a flexible mobile data service that can be incorporated into survey designs in a variety of ways. Given the many uses of SMS, I provide a framework for the use of SMS in the survey process which outlines the temporal location of three types of SMS-related nonresponse: SMS nonconsent, SMS nondelivery, and SMS noncooperation.

To better understand when SMS-related nonresponse might pose a risk of producing bias in survey estimates, I …

The Impact Of Working Memory On Response Order Effects And Question Order Effects In Telephone And Web Surveys, Beth Cochran

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

It has been theorized that working memory plays a role in survey methodology contributing to response order and question order effects; however, there is little empirical evidence linking working memory and survey context effects. This dissertation examines whether respondents’ working memory influences response order and question order effects through incorporating working memory measures into the survey questionnaire. The subjects were randomly assigned to complete the survey via telephone or web, and respondents completed a series of working memory measures and attitudinal questions.

It was hypothesized that as working memory capacity improved there would be a decrease in the likelihood of …

Wellbeing And Data Quality In The American Time Use Survey (Atus) From A Total Survey Error Perspective, Ana Lucía Córdova Cazar

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

In this dissertation, I seek to develop a tool for the enhancement of time-use and wellbeing measures from a total survey error perspective. In particular, I evaluate the quality of the time use data produced in the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), by exploring its indicators and identifying its main predictors, including interview rapport. Results from these analyses are then used to evaluate the extent to which certain variables correlate, as predicted, with expected levels of wellbeing.

The first specific objective was to investigate the data quality of the 2010 ATUS by constructing a data quality index. In my dissertation, …

An Experimental Examination Of Visual Grouping Techniques In Skip Patterns On Respondent Navigation Errors, Rebecca J. Powell

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

Researchers are able to obtain better coverage and response rates with mail surveys compared to landline telephone surveys due to (1) easier access to the United States Postal Service (USPS) Computerized Delivery Sequence File (CDSF) (Iannacchione, 2011), and (2) the rise of households with no landline telephone (Blumberg and Luke, 2016). However, the use of the mail mode raises important challenges, such as the need to help respondents navigate the questionnaire without interviewer assistance.

As not all questions asked are relevant to all respondents, skip patterns are introduced to navigate respondents around questions that do not apply to them. With …

Interviewer Voice Characteristics And Data Quality, Nuttirudee Charoenruk

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

As an aural mode, interviewer voices play an important part in telephone surveys. Telephone interviewers are typically instructed to read questions with a proper phrasing and inflection and to read questions at a speech rate of 2 words per second (wps). However, there is no study that examines whether these interviewer voices affect data quality. In this dissertation, I examine how interviewer voice characteristics are associated with data quality in socially desirable, undesirable, and complex questions.

Data for this study come from the Work and Leisure Today Survey (NSF SES-1132015). I examined the first turn that interviewers read a survey …

An Examination Of Sources Of Error In Exit Polls: Nonresponse And Measurement Error, René Bautista

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation focuses on understudied aspects of nonresponse in a context where limited information is available from refusals. In particular, this study examines social and psychological predictors of nonresponse in fast-paced face-to-face surveys; namely, election day surveys —popularly known as exit polls. Exit polls present unique challenges to study nonresponse since the population being sampled is fleeting and several conditions are beyond the researcher’s control.

If sample voters choose not participate, there is no practical way of contacting them to collect information in a timely manner. Using a proof-of-concept approach, this study explores a unique dataset that links information of …

Tailoring General Population Surveys To Address Participation And Measurement Challenges Of Surveying Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual People, Mathew Stange

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

Being rare and stigmatized, lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people are hard-to-survey. Gaining their participation, reducing concealment of LGB identity, and accurately measuring their marital status are challenging. In this dissertation, I examine the effects that LGB-inclusive tailoring—inclusive cover image design and “same-sex” and “opposite-sex” marital status categories—has on addressing these challenges; particularly, the effect on who responds to a survey and the answers that they provide, among LGB and non-LGB people. The experiments were embedded in the 2013 Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS), a general population mail survey of Nebraskans (n=1,608). I test how the LGB-inclusive cover design …

Numeric Estimation And Response Options: An Examination Of The Measurement Properties Of Numeric And Vague Quantifier Responses, Mohammad T. Al Baghal

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

Many survey questions ask respondents to provide responses that contain quantitative information. These questions are often asked requiring open ended numeric responses, while others have been asked using vague quantifier scales. How these questions are asked, particularly in terms of the response format, can have an important impact on the data. Therefore, the response format is of particular importance for ensuring that any use of the data contains the best possible information. Generally, survey researchers have argued against the use of vague quantifier scales. This dissertation compares various measurement properties between numeric open ended and vague quantifier responses, using three …

Is Less More & More Less…? The Effect Of Two Types Of Interviewer Experience On “Don’T Know” Responses In Calendar And Standardized Interviews, Ipek Bilgen

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

Among interviewing context factors, the level of interviewer experience has been observed to be associated with item nonresponse rates in surveys (Singer et al., 1983, Bailar et al., 1977; Pickery & Loosveldt, 1998). The findings regarding the direction of this association, however, are equivocal. This dissertation addresses competing theories behind the relationship between interviewer experience and item nonresponse. The explored experience types are general interviewer experience, gained via survey administration during a lifetime, and within-study interviewer exposure, gained during administration of a particular study fielding period. Item nonresponse was measured via respondents’ “don’t know” responses.

To date, methodological …

The Genetic Heritability
 Of
 Survey
 Response 
Styles, Levente Littvay

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

This study assesses the genetic heritability of various survey response styles using a classical twin design. The National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) collected in 1995-96 included an oversample of twins with self-reported zygosity along with a large number of survey items that allowed for the assessment of acquiescent and extreme response style. The MIDUS singleton sample was used for the careful development of appropriate and reliable measures of these traits. The second wave of the MIDUS (2005-06), was used to assess the sources of survey response trait stability. Acquiescence appears to have a sizable and …

Agreement Answer Scale Design For Multilingual Surveys: Effects Of Translation-Related Changes In Verbal Labels On Response Styles And Response Distributions, Ana Villar

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

Answer scales in survey instruments are widely used, but little is known about how to choose verbal descriptors as labels. In multilingual research, this matter is further complicated because answer scales must be appropriate for all languages and function comparatively. Comparing source questionnaires to translations of multinational projects (e.g., the World Values Survey, the European Social Survey), it was observed that certain verbal features differed across languages, countries, and modules. This dissertation empirically investigates the effect of such changes on response distributions. The verbal feature examined is the presence or absence of an intensity modifier in the second and fourth …

Seam Effects Changes Due To Modifications In Question Wording And Data Collection Strategies. A Comparison Of Conventional Questionnaire And Event History Calendar Seam Effects In The Psid, Mario Callegaro

Survey Research and Methodology (SRAM) Program: Dissertations and Theses

A seam effect occurs in panel studies when within-wave changes are less frequent than between-wave changes (comparing data gathered from two different interviews). This study explores the changes in the magnitude of seam effects among labor force states (employment, unemployment, not in labor force) using the last seven waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics collected between 1995 and 2005. The panel underwent several changes: data were collected with conventional questionnaires (CQ) until 2001. The interval between waves was changed from one year to two years in 1997. The data regarding labor force transitions were collected with Event History …