1 / 27

Agenda

Agenda. Recap: Sample design and response rates Historical and comparative research Using archival resources Group research proposals. Respondent. Age. Mean:. n i= 1. . x i. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. 20 22 22 23 24 24 24 25 28 30. (20+22+22+23 … +30). 242. x =. =.

nora-franco
Download Presentation

Agenda

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Agenda • Recap: Sample design and response rates • Historical and comparative research • Using archival resources • Group research proposals

  2. Respondent Age Mean: n i=1  xi 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 22 22 23 24 24 24 25 28 30 (20+22+22+23 … +30) 242 x = = = = 24.2 N 10 10 Variance: n i=1  (xi – x)2 s2= = (20-24.2)2 + (22-24.2)2 … 77.6 = = 8.62 N-1 10 - 1 9 Standard Deviation: __ s = s2  =  8.62 = 2.94 Standard Error: s 2.94 s.e. = ___ = = .93  N  10 95% Confidence Interval: 24.2 +/- (1.96 x .93) = 24.2 +/- 1.82 = 22.4 to 26.0

  3. Sampling design • Most samples not simple random • RDD telephone surveys weighted for number of lines per household • Cluster samples adjusted for number of units sampled at each stage

  4. Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) e.g., SMA Second-Stage Sampling Unit (SSU) e.g., area segments (Census blocks)  Housing Unit As the number of PSUs and SSUs declines, sample variances and sampling errors will increase  The Design Effect is the ratio of the variance of a particular sample to a simple random sample of the same size A design effect < 1 is more efficient than simple random A design effect > 1 is less efficient than simple random Selected Respondent

  5. Survey nonresponse CONSEQUENCES OF REDUCING NONRESPONSE IN A NATIONAL TELEPHONE SURVEY SCOTT KEETER CAROLYN MILLER ANDREW KOHUT ROBERT M. GROVES STANLEY PRESSER AbstractCritics of public opinion polls often claim that methodological shortcuts taken to collect timely data produce biased results. This study compares two random digit dial national telephone surveys that used identical questionnaires but very different levels of effort: a "Standard" survey conducted over a 5-day period that used a sample of adults who were home when the interviewer called, and a "Rigorous“ survey conducted over an 8-week period that used random selection from among all adult household members. Response rates, computed according to AAPOR guidelines, were 60.6 percent for the Rigorous and 36.0 percent for the Standard study. Nonetheless, the two surveys produced similar results. Across 91 comparisons, no difference exceeded 9 percentage points, and the average difference was about 2 percentage points. Most of the statistically significant differences were among demographic items. Very few significant differences were found on attention to media and engagement in politics, social trust and connectedness, and most social and political attitudes, including even those toward surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, Summer 2000, pp. 125-148

  6. Historical and comparative research • Historical Events Research • Historical Process Research • Cross-sectional Comparative Research • Comparative Historical Research

  7. Cross-Sectional Longitudinal Historical Events Research Historical Process Research Single Case Multiple Cases Cross-sectional Comparative Research Comparative Historical Research

  8. Examples Robert Putnam’s research on social capital • Comparative studies of Italian regional governments • Historical trends in American social capital • Comparative studies of U.S. States

  9. Social capital • Features of social life that enable people to act together more effectively • Social networks • Social trust • Social norms • Accrued collectively, like financial capital • Theoretically central to democratic life

  10. Comparative study • Fifteen Italian regional governments • Examined institutional success • Stability of cabinets • Prompt budgets • Legislative innovations • Predictors of success • Economic development • Social stability • Civic culture (voluntary associations)

  11. Historical study • U.S. trends in social group memberships and social trust • 25% decline in group memberships since 1972 • 30% decline in interpersonal trust since 1972 • Finds declines in political participation as well

  12. Group Member- ships 2 Proportion Saying People Can be Trusted 1 52% Long civic generation 25% 1900 1940 1970 Year of Birth

  13. Why the declines? A “mysterious anti-civic X-ray” – television • The timing fits (temporal order) • TV viewing associated with lower social capital (correlation) • Plausible mechanisms to explain effect • Time displacement • Cultivation of outlooks • Childhood socialization

  14. Alternative explanations Putnam examines several: • Pressures of time and money • Mobility and suburbanization • Changing role of women • Marriage and family • Rise of welfare state

  15. Counter-arguments • Not declines but transformations of traditional forms of civic-mindedness • Growth of issue-advocacy groups • Growth of school and health-related activities • Timing doesn’t quite fit a TV explanation • Declines register in the 1950s -- among people who predate the TV generation

  16. Turned 18 in late 1940s and 1950s Group Member- ships 2 Proportion Saying People Can be Trusted 1 52% 25% 1900 1940 1970 Year of Birth

  17. Methodological issues • Reliance upon archival data sources • Secondary analysis • Measurement across contexts

  18. Archival data • Advantages • The “running record” may be non-reactive • Data gathering independent of the researcher • Disadvantages • How gathered? For what purpose? • Selective deposit and selective survival • Consider Congressional Record, archeological use of pottery

  19. Secondary analysis Putting data to purposes for which they were not originally gathered • Fit between theoretical constructs and available measures may be rough • Key analytic variables may be missing

  20. Comparability of data • Comparisons across countries, cities, etc. • Differences in sampling • Differences in language (e.g., comparing “trust”) • Political and cultural differences (e.g., comparing voluntary associations) • Comparisons over time • Change over time in meanings (e.g., comparing racial attitudes) • Differences in samples, questions, and survey context

  21. Archival resources • Largest single archive of social science data in the world • Data and documentation provided free to member institutions

  22. Archival resources • Decennial Census • Monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) • Data on housing, business, and trade

  23. Archival resources • Bureau of Labor Statistics • Data on employment, prices, living conditions • Data on health and occupational safety • The World Bank • International comparative data

  24. For Thursday • Group Workshops • Next step for group research proposals

More Related