Synopses & Reviews
The widespread use of surveys in fields as diverse as sociology, psychology, statistics, communication science, business, and economics makes the potential effects of measurement error as far-reaching as survey results themselves. Measurement Errors in Surveys documents the current state of the field, reports new research findings, and promotes interdisciplinary exchanges in modeling, assessing, and reducing measurement errors in surveys. The book begins with an in-depth look at current issues in questionnaire design. Choice and presentation order of both questions and response alternatives are examined in detail. This section also compares the effects of questionnaire mode on cognitively designed questions. The results of research on the effects of context and question wording are probed as well. Special consideration is given to measurement error in business surveys. In studying respondents and responses, contributors consider recall error; differences in self vs. proxy responses; alternative approaches to obtaining personal history data; and item count techniques as a method of indirect questioning. Another section on interviewers and alternate means of data collection discusses the reduction of interviewer-related error through training; design and analysis of reinterview; and more. A case study examines the review of errors of direct observation in crop yield surveys. Contributors also outline factors affecting respondent-interviewer interactionsuch as the role of conversation, interview style, interviewer behavior, and response behavior. The second part of Measurement Errors in Surveys develops a fundamental approach to measurement errors. Both bottom-up and top-down versions of total survey error are presented. Modeling measurement errors and their effects on estimation and data analysis are considered and a mixed model for analyzing measurement errors for dichotomous variables demonstrated. The book ends with several chapters on data analysis. Discussions center on measurement errors in cross-national surveys and regression estimation in the presence of response error. Chi-squared tests for complex survey data are offered. A final study examines the effects of measurement error on event history analysis.
Synopsis
Measurement Errors in Surveysdocuments the current state of the field, reports new research findings, and promotes interdisciplinary exchanges in modeling, assessing, and reducing measurement errors in surveys. Providing a fundamental approach to measurement errors, the book features sections on the questionnaire, respondents and responses, interviewers and other means of data collection, the respondent-interviewer relationship, and the effects of measurement errors on estimation and data analysis.
Synopsis
WILEY-INTERSCIENCE PAPERBACK SERIES
The Wiley-Interscience Paperback Series consists of selected books that have been made more accessible to consumers in an effort to increase global appeal and general circulation. With these new unabridged softcover volumes, Wiley hopes to extend the lives of these works by making them available to future generations of statisticians, mathematicians, and scientists.
"This book will be an aid to survey statisticians and to research workers who must work with survey data."
Short Book Reviews, International Statistical Institute
Measurement Errors in Surveys documents the current state of the field, reports new research findings, and promotes interdisciplinary exchanges in modeling, assessing, and reducing measurement errors in surveys. Providing a fundamental approach to measurement errors, the book features sections on the questionnaire, respondents and responses, interviewers and other means of data collection, the respondent-interviewer relationship, and the effects of measurement errors on estimation and data analysis.
Synopsis
WILEY-INTERSCIENCE PAPERBACK SERIES
The Wiley-Interscience Paperback Series consists of selected books that have been made more accessible to consumers in an effort to increase global appeal and general circulation. With these new unabridged softcover volumes, Wiley hopes to extend the lives of these works by making them available to future generations of statisticians, mathematicians, and scientists.
"This book will be an aid to survey statisticians and to research workers who must work with survey data."
–Short Book Reviews, International Statistical Institute
Measurement Errors in Surveys documents the current state of the field, reports new research findings, and promotes interdisciplinary exchanges in modeling, assessing, and reducing measurement errors in surveys. Providing a fundamental approach to measurement errors, the book features sections on the questionnaire, respondents and responses, interviewers and other means of data collection, the respondent-interviewer relationship, and the effects of measurement errors on estimation and data analysis.
About the Author
PAUL P. BIEMER, PhD, is Chief Scientist at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina.
ROBERT M. GROVES, PhD, is Program Director (Senior Research Scientist) in the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan, where he also serves as Director in the Institute for Social Research and Professor of Sociology.
LARS E. LYBERG, PhD, is Chief Scientist at Statistics Sweden in Stockholm.
NANCY A. MATHIOWETZ, PhD, is Special Assistant Director for Statistical Design, Methodology, and Standards at the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
SEYMOUR SUDMAN, PhD, is the Walter A. Stellner Professor of Marketing and Deputy Director of the Survey Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Introduction (W. Kruskal).
1. Measurement Error Across Disciplines (R. Groves).
SECTION A: THE QUESTIONAIRE.
2. The Current Status of Questionnaire Design (N. Bradburn & S. Sudman).
3. Response Alternatives: The Impact of Their Choice and Presentation Order (N. Schwarz & H. Hippler).
4. Context Effects in the General Social Survey (T. Smith).
5. Mode Effects of Cognitively Designed Recall Questions: A Comparison of Answers to Telephone and Mail Surveys (D. Dillman & J. Tarnai).
6. Nonexperimental Research on Question Wording Effects: A Contribution to Solving the Generalizability Problem (N. Molenaar).
7. Measurement Errors in Business Surveys (S. Dutka & L. Frankel).
SECTION B: RESPONDENTS AND RESPONSES.
8. Recall Error: Sources and Bias Reduction Techniques (D. Eisenhower, et al.).
9. Measurement Effects in Self vs. Proxy Response to Survey Questions: An Information-Processing Perspective (J. Blair, et al.).
10. An Alternative Approach to Obtaining Personal History Data (B. Means, et al.).
11. The Item Count Technique as a Method of Indirect Questioning: A Review of Its Development and a Case Study Application (J. Droitcour, et al.).
12. Toward a Response Model in Establishment Surveys (W. Edwards & D. Cantor).
SECTION C: INTERVIEWERS AND OTHER MEANS OF DATA COLLECTION.
13. Data Collection Methods and Measurement Error: An Overview (L. Lyberg & D. Kasprzyk).
14. Reducing Inte5rviewer-Related Error Through Interviewer Training, Supervision, and Other Means (F. Fowler).
15. The Design and Analysis of Reinterview: An Overview (G. Forsman & I. Schreiner).
16. Expenditure Diary Surveys and Their Associated Errors (A. Silberstein & S. Scott).
17. A Review of Errors of Direct Observation in Crop Yield Surveys (R. Fecso).
18. Measurement Error in Continuing Surveys of the Grocery Retail Trade Using Electronic Data Collection Methods (J. Donmyer, et al.).
SECTION D: MEASUREMENT ERRORS IN THE INTERVIEW PROCESS.
19. Conversation with a Purpose—or Conversation? Interaction in the Standardized Interview (N. Schaeffer).
20. Cognitive Laboratory Methods: A Taxonomy (B. Forsyth & J. Lessler).
21. Studying Respondent-Interviewer Interaction: The Relationship Between Interviewing Style, Interviewer Behavior, and Response Behavior (J. van der Zouwen, et al.).
22. The Effect of Interviewer and Respondent Characteristics on the Quality of Survey Data: A Multilevel Model (J. Hox, et al.).
23. Interviewer, Respondent, and Regional Office Effects on Response Variance: A Statistical Decomposition (D. Hill).
SECTION E: MODELING MEASUREMENT ERRORS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON ESTIMATION AND DATA ANALYSIS.
24. Approaches to the Modeling of Measurement Errors (P. Biemer & L. Stokes).
25. A Mixed Model for Analyzing Measurement Errors for Dichotomous Variables (J. Pannekoek).
26. Models for Memory Effects in Count Data (P. van Dosselaar).
27. Simple Response Variance: Estimation and Determinants (C. O'Muircheartaigh).
28. Evaluation of Measurement Instruments Using a Structural Modeling Approach (W. Saris & F. Andrews).
29. A Path Analysis of Cross-National Data Taking Measurement Errors Into Account (I. Munck).
30. Regression Estimation in the Presence of Measurement Error (W. Fuller).
31. Chi-Squared Tests with Complex Survey Data Subject to Misclassification Error (J. Rao & D. Thomas).
32. The Effect of Measurement Error on Event History Analysis (D. Holt, et al.).
References.
Index.