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The Labour Force Survey – Data Quality Issues

The Labour Force Survey – Data Quality Issues. Matthew Steel. Data Quality Issues. Response rates Factors Improving response Research Refusal follow-up study Future work. Response rates. Factors affecting response. Falling contact rates Increasing interview length

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The Labour Force Survey – Data Quality Issues

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  1. The Labour Force Survey – Data Quality Issues Matthew Steel

  2. Data Quality Issues • Response rates • Factors • Improving response • Research • Refusal follow-up study • Future work

  3. Response rates

  4. Factors affecting response • Falling contact rates • Increasing interview length • Respondents less willing • External shocks • Reduced budgets • Change in survey design

  5. Improving response • Interviewer training • Incentives • Questionnaire reviews • Varying calling patterns • Survey materials • IT infrastructure

  6. Research • Analysis of attrition bias • Analysis on key estimates • Analysis of paradata • Refusal follow-up study

  7. Refusal follow-up study - Introduction Study:Eurostat funded project - result of one of the recommendations of the Quality Task Force Review of the LFS, to collect information on the characteristics of non-respondents in order to assess and adjust for non-response bias and to improve fieldwork strategies. Issue • Declining response rates: - August 2011 64% response rate at wave 1 - 10 years ago 75% in wave 1 • Key LFS estimates - sensitive to ethnicity, household type and nationalityBut – these are not included in the calibration totals

  8. Refusal follow-up study - Introduction • Therefore, if achieved sample proportions of…- ethnic groups- household groups- national groups… …are not representative of those proportions in…- allocated sample - population… …then the estimates derived from the LFS may be biased. • RFU survey aimed to:- identify whether key characteristics of responders and non-responders differentiate- identify if RFU group reasons for refusal differ to general refusing group

  9. Refusal follow-up study – Data Collection Mainstage RFU exercise:- Main and boost LFS survey - Wave 1 and outright/HQ refusals only- April to June 2011 LFS questionnaire Data collected in 4 ways… • Face-to-face • Telephone Unit (wave 1) • Survey Enquiry Line (SEL) • Self completion Face-to-face (left at doorstep) SEL (posted to respondent) Questionnaire process:- Interviewer/ SEL attempt achieve LFS interview- Not possible, offer RFU as last resort

  10. RFU Letter RFU Questionnaire

  11. Refusal follow-up study – Response Rate • Total AJ11 outright refusals and HQ refusals = 4,137 • LFS RFU respondents = 787 • LFS RFU response rate = 19 % • ONS received responses from each of the 4 methods • No interviewer estimate data was allowed, for:- Ethical reasons- Accuracy/ validity reasons

  12. Refusal follow-up study – Analysis • LFS collected data on all members of household • LFS RFU collected data:- Fully on one member of household - Partially on all other members • Therefore, comparisons between LFS and LFS RFU enabled by…- Selection of one random adult from each LFS responding household- Selection of full data respondent from LFS RFU- Created analysis dataset containing both

  13. Refusal follow-up study – Reasons for refusal Percentage comparison of reasons for RFU and LFS

  14. Refusal follow-up study - Characteristic comparisons of LFS and RFU respondents Age

  15. Refusal follow-up study - Characteristic comparisons of LFS and RFU respondents Sex

  16. Refusal follow-up study - Characteristic comparisons of LFS and RFU respondents Nationality

  17. Refusal follow-up study - Characteristic comparisons of LFS and RFU respondents Ethnicity

  18. Refusal follow-up study - Characteristic comparisons of LFS and RFU respondents Household type

  19. Refusal follow-up study - Characteristic comparisons of LFS and RFU respondents Workless households

  20. Refusal follow-up study - bias • Aim? - to determine whether bias exists in LFS data • How?- Created 1 weight for LFS responders and RFU combined dataset, and - Created 1 weight for LFS responders dataset only (excluding RFU cases) • Analysis?- Investigated whether proportions in data differed when RFU group included

  21. This indicates:- potential bias in the current estimates from a sample that included these ‘refusers’ in the LFS - or that the current LFS estimates are themselves potentially biased. Refusal follow-up study – bias investigations

  22. Refusal follow-up study - Caveats • LFSRFU data collected from one adult per residence • LFSRFU sample may not be representative of all ‘refusers’ to LFS • Not possible to produce standard errors in comparing the two weighted datasets.

  23. Future work • Continue to monitor • Census non-response link study • Regularly review length of survey • Data collection modes • Non-response weights

  24. Contact details LFS Research Team: nina.parry-langdon@ons.gsi.gov.uk debra.leaker@ons.gsi.gov.uk matthew.steel@ons.gsi.gov.uk Social Survey Data Service: socialsurveys@ons.gsi.gov.uk

  25. Questions?

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