Skip to content
University of Maryland LibrariesDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    The Relationship Between Response Propensity and Data Quality in the Current Population Survey and the American Time Use Survey

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    umi-umd-4381.pdf (1013.Kb)
    No. of downloads: 1883

    Date
    2007-04-26
    Author
    Fricker, Scott
    Advisor
    Tourangeau, Roger
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    An important theoretical question in survey research over the past fifty years has been: How does bringing in late or reluctant respondents affect total survey error? Does the effort and expense of obtaining interviews from difficult to contact or reluctant respondents significantly decrease the nonresponse error of survey estimates? Or do these late respondents introduce enough measurement error to offset any reductions in nonresponse bias? This dissertation attempted to address these questions by examining nonresponse and data quality in two national household surveys--the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Response propensity models were first developed for each survey, and busyness and social capital explanations of nonresponse were evaluated in light of the results. Using respondents' predicted probability of response, simulations were carried out to examine whether nonresponse bias was linked to response rates. Next, data quality in each survey was assessed by a variety of indirect indicators of response error--e.g., item missing data rates, round value reports, interview-reinterview response inconsistencies, etc.--and the causal roles of various household, respondent, and survey design attributes on the level of reporting error were explored. The principal analyses investigated the relationship between response propensity and the data quality indicators in each survey, and examined the effects of potential common causal factors when there was evidence of covariation. The implications of the findings from this study for survey practitioners and for nonresponse and measurement error studies are discussed.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1903/6888
    Collections
    • Joint Program in Survey Methodology Theses and Dissertations
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DRUMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister
    Pages
    About DRUMAbout Download Statistics

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility