STUDY OF SURVEY REFUSALS: This research is being carried out for a special AAPOR task force that has been put together to create a report addressing a broad set of considerations concerning survey refusals, particularly refusal aversion and conversion. This report will contextualize refusals as an element of survey research that bears special consideration given the growth of these survey outcomes (dispositions) in the past quarter century across all modes of respondent sampling, recruitment, and data collection, pressure to maintain response rates, and growth in the perceived desire of respondents to maintain their privacy. The report will explain the utility of various techniques for initially avoiding and subsequently overcoming refusals in the context of minimizing nonresponse and thereby encouraging high response rates. The goal is not to promulgate objective standards for refusal aversion/conversion; but rather to provide an explanation of why various techniques may be appropriate for different survey designs, and offer areas of caution where such techniques may violate and otherwise infringe upon the rights of respondents.
THE ROLE OF PRIVATE PHILANTHROPIC ACTORS IN INTERNATIONAL RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE EXISTING RESEARCH? This research looks at the methodology used to collect information from U.S. congregations. The main goal of this nationally representative survey was to estimate the how much international relief is given both directly or indirectly by congregations of all sizes and denominations. In addition, information was collected that described how much and who is providing international assistance, the survey also collected information on where the money is being sent.
COMPARING RANDOM DIGIT DIAL (RDD) AND UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (USPS) ADDRESS-BASED SAMPLE DESIGNS FOR A GENERAL POPULATION SURVEY - THE MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH INSURANCE SURVEY: This research compares respondents from a Random Digit Dial (RDD) sample design with respondents from a United States Postal Service (USPS) address list sample design for a general population study conducted to gather information on health insurance coverage in Massachusetts. The Urban Institute and International Communications Research collaborated in conducting the evaluation using a dual sample frame (RDD and USPS) approach. While the overall plan was to combine the two samples, a secondary goal was to choose large enough samples of both the RDD and the USPS so that they could produce independent estimates as well. Prior State surveys that have been used to evaluate health insurance coverage have largely been based on a RDD sample designs. However, with the coverage problems associated with the increasing numbers of households not having a landline telephone, survey sponsors have been exploring the potential of the USPS address lists to serve as a sampling frame for probability samples from the general population. This research looks at the relative coverage properties of the two frames along with response rates and measures of efficiency. The research provides insight into the coverage and cost/benefit trade-offs that researchers can expect from RDD sample designs that conduct all interviews over the phone versus using a full or combined USPS address sample design that utilizes a multi-mode (phone, web, mail) data collection approach.
METHODOLOGY RESEARCH ON ESTIMATING ARTS ATTENDANCE: This research involves two separate issues:
First is the issue of reconciling difference between Census Bureau and Academic/Commercial arts participation estimates. The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) was established in 1982 to provide reliable benchmarks of Americans’ participation in the arts in the context of other uses of their free time. When the 1997 SPPA was conducted by a commercial survey firm (Westat), rather than the US Bureau of the Census, the arts participation estimates were notably higher than in the previous three surveys conducted by Census in 1982, 1985 and 1987 (as well as subsequent SPPA surveys conducted by Census in 2002 and 2008). For each arts activity, the Census figures were up to 13 percentage points lower than those from Westat and other surveys. This article explores several explanations for these higher figures, not just internal factors (response rates, activity intercorrelations, survey introduction, etc.) but external estimates in relation to academic/commercial surveys conducted by the General Social Survey (GSS) and the Harris organization.
Second is the issue of proxy versus self-reporting participation. The research on this issue includes a the published article Can Your Spouse Accurately Report Your Activities - An Examination of Proxy Reporting From the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts: This article uses information collected on the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) which is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and was conducted as a supplement to the May 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS). A big challenge in being a supplement to the CPS is that respondent selection procedures for SPPA supplement differ from the CPS procedures. CPS is administered to any person 16 or older who is able to report employment information on all persons 16 years or older in the household. While the SPPA collects information on all adults 18 or older and it is felt that many of the questions on the survey require self-reports rather than proxy reports. In 2002, the Census Bureau interviewers attempted to complete the SPPA supplement with all persons 18 or older, but after 4 call attempts they accepted proxy reports. To make the SPPA a better fit for the CPS protocol, rather than attempt to interview all adults in the household , the 2008 SPPA accepted proxy responses for spouses or partners (for many of the questions). This change in design makes it much easier to measure the impact of proxy reports given that they were collected by design rather than out of necessity. This research explores the extent to which proxy reporting may have resulted in over or under reporting participation. And when there are differences should you adjust your estimate? Of particular interest in the published paper were comparisons between husbands reporting about the wives activities and vice a versa.
DEVELOPING A USER'S GUIDE FOR THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS (NEA) 2008 SURVEY OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE ARTS (SPPA): The SPPA is the field's premiere repeated cross sectional survey of individual attendance and involvement in arts and cultural activity. The data are circulated to interested researchers, and they are the basis for a range of NEA reports and independent research publications. The SPPA provides primary knowledge on the extent and nature of participation in the arts in the United States. Continuous improvement of the SPPA so that its estimates are as accurate as possible is a worthy goal. This goal of this research is to provide SPPA data users with enough information about the data and the survey itself to be able to correctly use the public use data.
The 2008 SPPA was redesigned to better handle a number of important design issues that arose from the 2002 version. The main goal this time around was a design that would be less burdensome. There were two major design changes that reduced the average burden:
1. Rather than attempt to interview all adults in the household (as in 2002), the 2008 SPPA randomly sampled adults and accepted proxy responses for spouses or partners (for many of the questions). While proxy responses were accepted in 2002, this time the questions were properly worded so that it is clear who the question is referring to and proxy responses were clearly identified in the data file prepared by the Census Bureau.
2. Rather than administer the entire SPPA survey to all respondents, the questionnaire was separated into modules, so that any one respondent only answered the core arts attendance questions and 2 of the 4 other modules.
Understanding how these two design changes impact the data is essential for researchers planning to use the 2008 SPPA data.
WHAT TO DO WHEN INTERVIEWING THE PERSON YOU WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH IS NOT FEASIBLE OF PRACTICAL: Why should you consider accepting a proxy response? In most situations you would most likely want to question your targeted respondent directly, however many surveys allow a knowledgeable person to answer on behalf of others. There are three main reasons why surveys accept proxy responses. First there is proxy out of necessity because the individuals that you would like to interview cannon be reached or are unable to respond on their own behalf because of they may be either too young or too old to respond or cannot respond due to a physical or mental condition. Some surveys will exclude these individuals, while other surveys will accept a proxy response because excluding them would lead to bias estimates. Second there is proxy to increase the efficiency of a survey. This occurs when you accept proxy responses for people capable of providing their own information in order to save time and money. Third there is proxy to improve the quality of the data for studies in which it is believed that proxy information would be as good as or perhaps even better than the information you would obtain from a direct interview. A very common situation of proxy by design is getting information about child from a parent. We do know that in general proxy responses have the potential to be less accurate, but less is known about the degree of proxy reporting inaccuracies. This research is aimed at learning how to decide what kinds of information can be reliably collected via proxy, who makes a good proxy respondent, and how to tailor the questions to improve the accuracy of the proxy responses.
UPDATING GRAND SLAM STATISTICS ON TENNIS PLAYERS: The Grand Slam tennis program is a statistical model that allows you to simulate matches between former winners of grand slam tournaments (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open). I am intermittently researching an updating the accuracy of the statistics used in the model and when appropriate I will add new players. You are welcome to download a free shareware copy of the "Grand Slam Tennis" program from this web site.
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