UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
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Item Enhancing the Understanding of the Relationship between Social Integration and Nonresponse in Household Surveys(2015) Amaya, Ashley Elaine; Presser, Stanley; Survey Methodology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Nonresponse and nonresponse bias remain fundamental concerns for survey researchers as understanding them is critical to producing accurate statistics. This dissertation tests the relationship between social integration, nonresponse, and nonresponse bias. Using the rich frame information available on the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Wave II, structural equation models were employed to create latent indicators of social integration. The resulting variables were used to predict nonresponse and its components (e.g., noncontact). In both surveys, social integration was significantly predictive of nonresponse (regardless of type of nonresponse) with integrated individuals more likely to respond. However, the relationship was driven by different components of integration across the two surveys. Full sample estimates were compared to respondent estimates on a series of 40 dichotomous and categorical variables to test the hypothesis that variables measuring social activities and roles would suffer from nonresponse bias. The impact of nonresponse on multivariate models predicting social outcomes was also evaluated. Nearly all of the 40 assessed variables suffered from significant nonresponse bias resulting in the overestimation of social activity and role participation. In general, civic and political variables suffered from higher levels of bias, but the differences were not significant. Multivariate models were not exempt; beta coefficients were frequently biased. Although, the direction was inconsistent and often small. Finally, an indicator of social integration was added to the weighting methodology with the goal of eliminating the observed nonresponse bias. While the addition significantly reduced the bias in most instances compared to both the base- and traditionally-weighted estimates, the improvements were small and did little to eliminate the bias.Item The Politics of Population Aging in Germany, Italy, and Japan(2008-08-18) Sciubba, Jennifer Dabbs; Pirages, Dennis; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which population aging has led to the emergence of age-based politics in Germany, Italy, and Japan. Many argue that the increase in the share of aged relative to youth has led to the development of gerontocracy--as aging has intensified, so has the political power of the aged. I argue that assuming political power from the size of demographic groups is flawed because political institutions are important vehicles that mediate and articulate the myriad interests of a population. The first pillar of the study explains how different party systems create different pressures for the emergence of age-based politics through the ways they articulate these interests. A second pillar of the study uses recent labor reforms to examine the trajectory of generational winners and losers within the labor policy arena. The study compares quantitative data and includes qualitative reviews of primary source material, such as party doctrine. In Germany, Italy, and Japan, there are few signs that older groups are hijacking the political agenda--gerontocracy is mostly a myth. Labor policy in all three states is adjusting to bring youth into the labor market and reforms often go against the interests of the aged. Though aging issues are present in politics in all three states, the competitive multiparty system in Germany encourages parties to appeal to particular age groups, while Japan's more limited system encourages broad appeals. The fractured Italian system shows signs of both types of appeals. Aging issues do not dominate the agendas of these states and in some cases regional identities are more important than age-based identities. As aging intensifies we should expect that institutions will continue to mediate the interests of different age groups the way they have over the past decade. External pressures, such as those stemming from globalization, will likely continue to encourage convergence in labor policies that bring underutilized groups of all ages into the workforce.