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.

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. "Survey Errors and Survey Costs is a well-written, well-presented, and highly readable text that should be on every error-conscious statistician’s bookshelf. Any courses that cover the theory and design of surveys should certainly have Survey Errors and Survey Costs on their reading lists." –Phil Edwards MEL, Aston University Science Park, UK Review in The Statistician, Vol. 40, No. 3, 1991 "This volume is an extremely valuable contribution to survey methodology. It has many virtues: First, it provides a framework in which survey errors can be segregated by sources. Second, Groves has skillfully synthesized existing knowledge, bringing together in an easily accessible form empirical knowledge from a variety of sources. Third, he has managed to integrate into a common framework the contributions of several disciplines. For example, the work of psychometricians and cognitive psychologists is made relevant to the research of econometricians as well as the field experience of sociologists. Finally, but not least, Groves has managed to present all this in a style that is accessible to a wide variety of readers ranging from survey specialists to policymakers." –Peter H. Rossi University of Massachusetts at Amherst Review in Journal of Official Statistics, January 1991

Enhance the quality of survey results by recognizing and reducing measurement errors. Margins of Error: A Study of Reliability in Survey Measurement demonstrates how and hwy identifying the presence and extent of measurement errors in survey data is essential for improving the overall collection and analysis of the data. The author outlines the consequences of ignoring survey measurement errors and also discusses ways to detect and estimate the impact of these errors. This book also provides recommendations of improving the quality of survey data. Logically organized and clearly written, this book: Deconstructs the data gathering process into six main elements of the response process: question adequacy, comprehension, accessibility, retrieval, motivation, and communication Provides an exhaustive review of valuable reliability estimation techniques that can be applied to survey data Identifies the types of questions and interviewer practices that are essential to the collection of reliable data Addresses hypotheses regarding which survey questions, sources of information, and questionnaire formats produce the most reliable data In conjunction with research data gathered on nearly 500 survey measures and the application of an empirical approach grounded in classical measurement theory, this book discusses the sources of measurement error and provides the tools necessary for improving survey data collection methods. Margins of Error enables statisticians and researchers in the fields of public opinion and survey research to design studies that can detect, estimate, and reduce measurement errors that may have previously gone undetected. This book also serves as a supplemental textbook for both undergraduate and graduate survey methodology courses.

Featuring a timely presentation of total survey error (TSE), this edited volume introduces valuable tools for understanding and improving survey data quality in the context of evolving large-scale data sets This book provides an overview of the TSE framework and current TSE research as related to survey design, data collection, estimation, and analysis. It recognizes that survey data affects many public policy and business decisions and thus focuses on the framework for understanding and improving survey data quality. The book also addresses issues with data quality in official statistics and in social, opinion, and market research as these fields continue to evolve, leading to larger and messier data sets. This perspective challenges survey organizations to find ways to collect and process data more efficiently without sacrificing quality. The volume consists of the most up-to-date research and reporting from over 70 contributors representing the best academics and researchers from a range of fields. The chapters are broken out into five main sections: The Concept of TSE and the TSE Paradigm, Implications for Survey Design, Data Collection and Data Processing Applications, Evaluation and Improvement, and Estimation and Analysis. Each chapter introduces and examines multiple error sources, such as sampling error, measurement error, and nonresponse error, which often offer the greatest risks to data quality, while also encouraging readers not to lose sight of the less commonly studied error sources, such as coverage error, processing error, and specification error. The book also notes the relationships between errors and the ways in which efforts to reduce one type can increase another, resulting in an estimate with larger total error. This book: • Features various error sources, and the complex relationships between them, in 25 high-quality chapters on the most up-to-date research in the field of TSE • Provides comprehensive reviews of the literature on error sources as well as data collection approaches and estimation methods to reduce their effects • Presents examples of recent international events that demonstrate the effects of data error, the importance of survey data quality, and the real-world issues that arise from these errors • Spans the four pillars of the total survey error paradigm (design, data collection, evaluation and analysis) to address key data quality issues in official statistics and survey research Total Survey Error in Practice is a reference for survey researchers and data scientists in research areas that include social science, public opinion, public policy, and business. It can also be used as a textbook or supplementary material for a graduate-level course in survey research methods.

A welcome and much-needed addition to the literature on survey data quality in social research, McNabb’s book examines the most common sources of nonsampling error: frame error; measurement error; response error, nonresponse error, and interviewer error. Offering the only comprehensive and non-technical treatment available, the book’s focus on controlling error shows readers how to eliminate the opportunity for error to occur, and features revealing examples of past and current efforts to control the incidence and effects of nonsampling error. Most importantly, it gives readers the tools they need to understand, identify, address, and prevent the most prevalent and difficult-to-control types of survey errors.

In 1939, George Gallup's American Institute of Public Opinion published a pamphlet optimistically titled The New Science of Public Opinion Measurement. At the time, though, survey research was in its infancy, and only now, six decades later, can public opinion measurement be appropriately called a science, based in part on the development of the total survey error approach. Herbert F. Weisberg's handbook presents a unified method for conducting good survey research centered on the various types of errors that can occur in surveys—from measurement and nonresponse error to coverage and sampling error. Each chapter is built on theoretical elements drawn from specific disciplines, such as social psychology and statistics, and follows through with detailed treatments of the specific types of error and their potential solutions. Throughout, Weisberg is attentive to survey constraints, including time and ethical considerations, as well as controversies within the field and the effects of new technology on the survey process—from Internet surveys to those completed by phone, by mail, and in person. Practitioners and students will find this comprehensive guide particularly useful now that survey research has assumed a primary place in both public and academic circles.

"Measurement Error and Research Design is an ideal text for research methods courses across the social sciences, especially those in which a primer on measurement is needed. For the novice researcher, this book facilitates understanding of the basic principles required to design measures and methods for empirical research. For the experienced researcher, this book provides an in-depth analysis and discussion of the essence of measurement error and the procedures to minimize it. Most important, the book's unique approach bridges measurement and methodology through clear illustrations of the intangibles of scientific research."--BOOK JACKET.

As conceived by the founders of the Econometric Society, econometrics is a field that uses economic theory and statistical methods to address empirical problems in economics. It is a tool for empirical discovery and policy analysis. The chapters in this volume embody this vision and either implement it directly or provide the tools for doing so. This vision is not shared by those who view econometrics as a branch of statistics rather than as a distinct field of knowledge that designs methods of inference from data based on models of human choice ...

To the uninformed, surveys appear to be an easy type of research to design and conduct, but when students and professionals delve deeper, they encounter the vast complexities that the range and practice of survey methods present. To complicate matters, technology has rapidly affected the way surveys can be conducted; today, surveys are conducted via cell phone, the Internet, email, interactive voice response, and other technology-based modes. Thus, students, researchers, and professionals need both a comprehensive understanding of these complexities and a revised set of tools to meet the challenges. In conjunction with top survey researchers around the world and with Nielsen Media Research serving as the corporate sponsor, the Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods presents state-of-the-art information and methodological examples from the field of survey research. Although there are other "how-to" guides and references texts on survey research, none is as comprehensive as this Encyclopedia, and none presents the material in such a focused and approachable manner. With more than 600 entries, this resource uses a Total Survey Error perspective that considers all aspects of possible survey error from a cost-benefit standpoint. Key Features Covers all major facets of survey research methodology, from selecting the sample design and the sampling frame, designing and pretesting the questionnaire, data collection, and data coding, to the thorny issues surrounding diminishing response rates, confidentiality, privacy, informed consent and other ethical issues, data weighting, and data analyses Presents a Reader′s Guide to organize entries around themes or specific topics and easily guide users to areas of interest Offers cross-referenced terms, a brief listing of Further Readings, and stable Web site URLs following most entries The Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods is specifically written to appeal to beginning, intermediate, and advanced students, practitioners, researchers, consultants, and consumers of survey-based information.

Focuses on three areas of nonsampling survey errors: frame, nonresponse and measurement error. Each one is analysed by defining key terms, formulating known effects and examining suggested remedies. Also, the terminology related to each source of error is reviewed while historically tracing the major contributions to the literature.