Improving Survey Response : Lessons Learned from the European Social Survey

by Ineke Stoop (Social ; and Cultural Planning Office, Netherlands ); Jaak Billiet (Centre for Sociological Research, ; Belgium ); Achim Koch (Centre for Survey Research and Methodology, Germany ); Rory Fitzgerald (City University, UK )

• ISBN13: 9780470688328
• ISBN10: 0470688327
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2010-03-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Improving Survey Response discusses techniques that enable the survey statistician to estimate the level of nonresponse, and adjust for it accordingly in order to improve the results. All the fundamental issues in nonresponse area are discussed, for example, nonresponse bias, the various causes of nonresponse, and measurement tools to assess the efficiency of fieldwork strategies. With real life case studies from twenty-five countries, the book uses a wealth of data taken from the European Social Survey (ESS) and is accompanied by a Web site hosting the survey data.

Table of Contents

Backgrounds of nonresponse

Introduction

Declining response rates

Total survey quality and nonresponse

Optimising comparability

Survey response in cross-national studies

Introduction

Harmonisation models

Contactability

Ability to cooperate

Willingness to cooperate

Nonresponse bias

Ethics and humans

The European Social Survey

Introduction

What is the European Social Survey?

ESS design and methodology

Nonresponse targets, strategies and documentation

Conclusions

Implementation of the European Social Survey

Introduction

Basic survey features

Practical fieldwork issues

Summary and conclusions

Response and nonresponse rates in the European Social Survey

Data and definitions

Response and nonresponse rates in ESS 3

Response rate differences and fieldwork efforts

Response enhancement through extended interviewer efforts

Introduction

Previous research on contactability

Previous research on cooperation

Sample type and recruitment mode in the European Social Survey

Establishing contact in the European Social Survey

Obtaining cooperation in the European Social Survey

Effects of enhanced field efforts in the European Social Survey

Conclusion

Refusal conversion

Introduction

Previous research

Refusal conversion in the ESS

Refusal conversion and data quality

Discussion and conclusions

Designs for detecting nonresponse bias and adjustment

What is nonresponse bias?

Methods for assessing nonresponse bias

Final conclusions

Lessons learned

Introduction

Standardisation, tailoring and control

Achieving high response rates

Refusal conversion

Nonresponse bias

Contact forms and fieldwork monitoring

Into the future

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.