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Online probability-based panels often apply two or more data collection modes to cover both the online and offline populations with the aim of obtaining results that are more representative of the population of interest. This study used such a panel to investigate how necessary it is, from the coverage error standpoint, to include the offline population by mixing modes in online panel survey research. This study evaluated the problem from three different perspectives: undercoverage bias, bias related to survey item topics and vari­able characteristics, and accuracy of online-only samples relative to nationally representa­tive benchmarks. The results indicated that attitudinal, behavioral, and factual differences between the online and offline populations in Australia are, on average, minor. This means that, considering that survey research commonly includes a relatively low proportion of the offline population, survey estimates would not be significantly affected if probability-based panels did not mix modes and instead were online only, for the majority of topics. The benchmarking analysis showed that mixing the online mode with the offline mode did not improve the average accuracy of estimates relative to nationally representative bench­marks. Based on these findings, it is argued that other online panels should study this issue from different perspectives using the approaches proposed in this paper. There might also be an argument for (temporarily) excluding the offline population in probability-based on­line panel research in particular country contexts as this might have practical implications., methods, data, analyses, Online First

Während in den quantitativen Sozialwissenschaften Umfragedaten seit jeher das Herzstück der Informationsgewinnung bilden, spielten Beobachtungsdaten und andere Datenquellen eine eher untergeordnete Rolle. Soziale Medien und mobile Endgeräte lassen nun digitale Verhaltensdaten immer mehr in den Mittelpunkt sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung rücken. Doch selbst die innovativsten und umfangreichsten Datenmengen sind unzureichend, wenn sie nicht von hoher Qualität sind. Dieser Artikel diskutiert anhand eingängiger Beispiele die grundlegenden Herausforderungen bei der Analyse digitaler Verhaltensdaten und präsentiert einen zentralen Ansatz zur Evaluation ihrer Qualität., easy social sciences No. 68 (2023): Diegitale Gesellschaft(en): Neue Forschungsansätze zur Digitalen Transformation Starting Point and Frequency: Year: 1989, Issues per Year: 2, easy social sciences

In some precolonial regimes in sub-Saharan Africa, queen mothers ruled alongside kings. Yet, women were dislodged from leadership positions over time. Today, many countries are discussing how to boost the number of women in politics and business. Some sub-Saharan African countries are already among the top 25 in terms of proportion of women in parliament, and boast above-average percentages of women on corporate boards. How did women become leaders in these sectors? Men usually dominate in leadership positions; however, some countries have achieved impressive numbers of women in political and economic leadership by introducing affirmative policies in favour of fast-tracking women's participation. Although there are still miles to go before gender parity is finally achieved, certain countries in sub-Saharan Africa show that changing the rules of the game by implementing a mixture of affirmative policies increases the number of women in leadership positions. Women's movements are behind the big jumps in female representation that countries in sub-Saharan Africa have made. Especially in post-war societies, women's movements have used the opportunity to push for more women in leadership. For example, the Women's National Coalition in South Africa lobbied for a gender advisory body to the Constitutional Assembly, which contributed to the Constitution now including a strong equality clause. Even though we have witnessed many women being sent back to private spaces after wars, the immediate post-war context can drastically change the social standing of women for the better. Alongside structural factors that increase women's participation in leadership, there are also individual factors that certain women bring to the table. Wealthy and educated women often climb up the career ladder. Additionally, women who benefit from training for management and mentoring are empowered to participate in politics and business. While it is easy to look at the global gender equity gap and shrug it off as a problem too big to solve, certain countries in sub-Saharan Africa show that rapid changes are possible when a mixture of affirmative policies is implemented, when women's movements are supported, and when women have access to education and money. International donors should promote feminist policies to increase the number of women in power.

In light of issues such as increasing unit nonresponse in surveys, several studies argue that social media sources such as Twitter can be used as a viable alternative. However, there are also a number of shortcomings with Twitter data such as questions about its representativeness of the wider population and the inability to validate whose data you are collecting. A useful way forward could be to combine survey and Twitter data to supplement and improve both. To do so, consent within a survey is first needed. This study explores the consent decisions in three large representative surveys of the adult British population to link Twitter data to survey responses and the impact that demographics and survey mode have on these outcomes. Findings suggest that consent rates for data linkage are relatively low, and this is in part mediated by mode, where face-to-face surveys have higher consent rates than web versions. These findings are important to understand the potential for linking Twitter and survey data but also to the consent literature generally.

Once recruited, probability-based online panels have proven to enable high-quality and high-frequency data collection. In ever faster-paced societies and, recently, in times of pandemic lockdowns, such online survey infrastructures are invaluable to social research. In absence of email sampling frames, one way of recruiting such a panel is via postal mail. However, few studies have examined how to best approach and then transition sample members from the initial postal mail contact to the online panel registration. To fill this gap, we implemented a large-scale experiment in the recruitment of the 2018 sample of the German Internet Panel (GIP) varying panel recruitment designs in four experimental conditions: online-only, concurrent mode, online-first, and paper-first. Our results show that the online-only design delivers higher online panel registration rates than the other recruitment designs. In addition, all experimental conditions led to similarly representative samples on key socio-demographic characteristics.

The literature on the effects of incentives in survey research is vast and covers a diversity of survey modes. The mode of probability-based online panels, however, is still young and so is research into how to best recruit sample units into the panel. This paper sheds light on the effectiveness of a specific type of incentive in this context: a monetary incentive that is paid conditionally upon panel registration within two weeks of receiving the initial postal mail invitation. We tested early bird cash incentives in a large-scale recruitment experiment for the German Internet Panel (GIP) in 2018. We find that panel response rates are significantly higher when offering early bird cash incentives and that fieldwork progresses considerably faster, leading to fewer reminders and greater cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, sample representativeness is similarly high with or without early bird incentives. Die Literatur über die Auswirkungen von Anreizen in der Umfrageforschung ist umfangreich und umfasst eine Vielzahl von Erhebungsmodi. Der Modus der "probability-based online panels" ist jedoch noch jung und damit auch die Forschung darüber, wie man am besten Stichprobeneinheiten für das Panel rekrutiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit beleuchtet die Wirksamkeit einer bestimmten Art von Anreiz in diesem Zusammenhang: ein monetärer Anreiz, der unter der Bedingung gezahlt wird, dass sich die Panelteilnehmer*innen innerhalb von zwei Wochen nach Erhalt der ersten postalischen Einladung registrieren. Die Autor*innen haben Frühbucheranreize in einem groß angelegten Rekrutierungsexperiment für das Deutsche Internetpanel (GIP) im Jahr 2018 getestet. Sie stellen fest, dass die Panel-Response-Raten signifikant höher sind, wenn Frühbucher-Boni angeboten werden, und dass die Feldarbeit deutlich schneller voranschreitet, was zu weniger Erinnerungsschreiben und einer höheren Kosteneffizienz führt. Außerdem ist die Repräsentativität der Stichprobe mit und ohne Frühbucherprämie ähnlich hoch.

Background Obtaining a sample that is representative of the group of interest is of utmost importance in questionnaire studies. In a survey using a state authorized web-portal for citizen communication with authorities, we wanted to investigate the view of adult men on patient involvement in health care decision-making regarding Prostate-Specific Antigen test for prostatic cancer. In this paper, we report on sample characteristics and representativeness of our sample in terms of personality and baseline involvement preferences. Methods We compared personality profiles (BFI-10) and baseline healthcare decision-making preferences (CPS) in our sample (n = 6756) to internationally available datasets. Pooled data from a) US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (n = 1512), b) Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium (n = 1136), and c) Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark (n = 1313) were used for BFI-10 comparisons. Regarding CPS, we compared our sample with three previous datasets relating to decision-making in cancer (n = 425, 387, and 199). Results Although statistically significant differences particularly appeared in large dataset comparisons, sample BFI-10 and CPS profiles mostly were within the range of those previously reported. Similarity was greatest in BFI-10 comparisons with group a) where no statistically significant difference could be established in factors ‘agreeableness’ and ‘neuroticism’ (p = .095 and .578, respectively). Conclusion Despite some variation, our sample displays personality and baseline preference profiles that are generally similar to those described in previous international studies. For example, this was the case with the BFI-10 ‘agreeableness’ measure (incl. trust and fault-finding items), an important factor in healthcare decision-making.

There is an &ldquo, infodemic&rdquo, associated with the COVID-19 pandemic&mdash, an overabundance of valid and invalid information. Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information, making it crucial for navigating coronavirus and COVID-19 information environments. A cross-sectional representative study of participants &ge, 16 years in Germany was conducted using an online survey. A coronavirus-related health literacy measure was developed (HLS-COVID-Q22). Internal consistency was very high (&alpha, = 0.940, &rho, = 0.891) and construct validity suggests a sufficient model fit, making HLS-COVID-Q22 a feasible tool for assessing coronavirus-related health literacy in population surveys. While 49.9% of our sample had sufficient levels of coronavirus-related health literacy, 50.1% had &ldquo, problematic&rdquo, (15.2%) or &ldquo, inadequate&rdquo, (34.9%) levels. Although the overall level of health literacy is high, a vast number of participants report difficulties dealing with coronavirus and COVID-19 information. The participants felt well informed about coronavirus, but 47.8% reported having difficulties judging whether they could trust media information on COVID-19. Confusion about coronavirus information was significantly higher among those who had lower health literacy. This calls for targeted public information campaigns and promotion of population-based health literacy for better navigation of information environments during the infodemic, identification of disinformation, and decision-making based on reliable and trustworthy information.

Interviewers made four observations related to future participation, respondent cooperation, enjoyment and whether the respondent found the questions difficult, for a large sample of face-to-face interviews at wave four of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). The focus of the paper is on predicting response behavior in the subsequent wave of MCS, four years later. The two most predictive observations are whether the respondent is likely to participate in the next wave and whether they enjoyed the interview. Not only do these predict non-response at the next wave, they do so after controlling for other explanatory variables from earlier waves in a response propensity model. Consequently, these two interviewer observations improve discrimination between respondents and non-respondents at wave five as estimated by Gini coefficients generated by a Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analysis. The predicted probabilities of responding at wave five are also used to estimate R-indicators, particularly to address the question of whether, hypothetically, conversion of ‘frail’ respondents would lead to improved representativity and reduced bias in longitudinal estimates of interest. The evidence from the R-indicators and partial R-indicators suggests that successful conversions could achieve those aims although the cost of so doing might outweigh the benefits., methods, data, analyses, Vol 11, No 1 (2017)

Germany is an immigration country and nearly a quarter of its population has a migration background. Thus, there is increasingly a need for reliable information on the health situation of people with a migration background. The Robert Koch Institute is in charge of expanding its health monitoring to improve the representation of people with a migration background in interview and examination surveys. Studies adequately need to reflect the health status of people with a migration background and currently the Robert Koch Institute’s representative interview and examination surveys for adults do not fully achieve this. At the end of 2016, therefore, the Improving Health Monitoring in Migrant Populations (IMIRA) project was initiated aiming to expand the Robert Koch Institute’s health monitoring to people with migration background and improve their involvement in health surveys in the long-term. This includes carrying out two feasibility studies to test strategies to reach and recruit people with migration background for interview surveys and develop measures to overcome language barriers in examination surveys. In order to expand health reporting on migration and health, a reporting concept and a core indicator set will be developed and the potential of (secondary) data sources will be tested. Furthermore, plans foresee the testing and further development of relevant specific migration sensitive survey instruments and indicators, as well as increasing networking with relevant stakeholders.

Im Rahmen des Projekts Improving Health Monitoring in Migrant Populations (IMIRA) wurde ein (Kern-)Indikatorenset zur Beschreibung der Gesundheit von Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund entwickelt. Die Recherche und Bewertung von Datenquellen im Bereich Migration und Gesundheit stellte dabei eine wesentliche Voraussetzung dar. Zunächst wurden vier Handlungsfelder mit entsprechenden Themenbereichen bestimmt und mögliche Indikatoren für die jeweiligen Themen definiert. Die Auswahl der Kernindikatoren basierte auf (1) einer systematischen Gegenüberstellung anerkannter Indikatorensysteme, (2) einer Bewertung der Public-Health-Relevanz, (3) Verständlichkeit sowie (4) Aussagekraft des Indikators und (5) der Verfügbarkeit (weitestgehend) repräsentativer Daten, mit denen die Vielfalt der Migrationsbevölkerung annähernd berücksichtigt werden kann. Ein interner und externer Abstimmungsprozess mit einem interdisziplinär zusammengesetzten Expertengremium führte zur Finalisierung des (Kern-)Indikatorensets. Insgesamt sind 25 Kernindikatoren ausgewählt worden; 41 Indikatoren wurden in einem „erweiterten“ Indikatorenset dokumentiert. Vor dem Hintergrund der angestrebten Verbesserung der Einbindung von Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund in das Gesundheitsmonitoring am Robert Koch-Institut wird das (Kern-)Indikatorenset kontinuierlich weiterentwickelt. Dieses wird perspektivisch in ein Gesamtkonzept für eine regelmäßige, migrationsbezogene Gesundheitsberichterstattung integriert.

Over a third (36.5%) of young people living in Germany have a migration background. Based on the data of the second follow-up to the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS Wave 2, 2014-2017), the health situation of 11- to 17-year-olds with and without a migration background is described using selected indicators. In order to account for the diversity among children and adolescents with a migration background, the health indicators used in this study are stratified by migration background but also by additional migration-related characteristics. In addition, the results from the various subgroups are also stratified by sociodemographic characteristics. No differences in self-assessed general health or the outpatient utilisation of paediatric and general medical services were identified between 11- to 17-year-olds with and without a migration background. However, migration-related differences were identified in health behaviour: whereas children and adolescents with a one- or two-sided migration background are more frequently overweight (including obesity), they consume risky amounts of alcohol less often than those of the same age without a migration background. Finally, the outcomes of the indicators also vary according to migration-related and sociodemographic characteristics.

Mobile phone surveys are increasingly prevalent in low- and middle-income countries. The main modes include computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI), interactive voice response (IVR), and short message service (SMS, or text messaging). But there is surprisingly little research to guide researchers in selecting the optimal mode for a particular survey. To address this gap, this study compares cross-sectional CATI, IVR, SMS, and face-to-face (FTF) surveys of the general population in Nigeria. We ask four research questions: (1) What are production and response rates to CATI, IVR, SMS, and FTF surveys? (2) How representative (age, gender, education, marital status, literacy, household assets, urbanicity) are CATI, IVR, and SMS respondents relative to FTF respondents? (3) Can IVR and SMS provide an unbiased estimate of voting behavior? If there is bias, to what extent can weights reduce bias? (4) How does the cost and time differ across mobile phone survey modes? We find that FTF had the highest response rate (99%), followed by CATI (15%), IVR (3%) and SMS (0.2%). All mobile phone modes had substantial deficiencies with representativeness: mobile phones underrepresented women, older people, the less educated, and people in rural areas. There were differences in representativeness among mobile phone modes, but differences were relatively small and inconsistent. Both SMS and IVR produced biased estimates of voting relative to official statistics – but SMS was less biased than IVR. Weighting SMS and IVR data for demographic characteristics did not reduce bias. With regard to cost, we find that CATI is the most expensive mobile phone survey mode. For a survey of 3,000 completes, IVR is 43% the cost of CATI, and SMS is 24% the cost of CATI. SMS is significantly less expensive than IVR. We discuss the implications of these results for research and practice., Survey Research Methods, Vol 13 No 3 (2019)

In many population surveys, fieldwork effort tends to be disproportionately concentrated on a relatively small proportion of hard-to-get cases. This article examines whether this effort is justified within a panel survey setting. It considers three questions: (i) are hard-to-get cases that are interviewed different from other interviewed cases? (ii) do cases that require a lot of effort in one survey wave require a lot of effort in all waves? and (iii) can easy-to-get cases be re-weighted to eliminate biases arising from not interviewing hard-to-get cases? Using data from a large nationally representative household panel survey, we find that hard-to-get cases are distinctly different from easy-to-get cases, suggesting that failure to obtain interviews with them would likely introduce biases into the sample. Further, being hard-to-get is mostly not a persistent state, meaning these high cost cases are not high cost every year. Simulations confirm that removing hard-to-get cases introduces biases, and these biases lead to an understatement of the extent of change experienced by the population. However, we also find that under one of five fieldwork curtailment strategies considered, the bias in population estimates that would arise if the hard-to-get cases were not pursued can be corrected by applying weights. Nevertheless, this conclusion only applies to the curtailment strategy involving the smallest decline in sample size. Biases associated with curtailment strategies involving larger sample size reductions, and hence greatest cost savings, are not so easily corrected., methods, data, analyses, Vol 13, No 2 (2019)

Die gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen von Schichtarbeit werden intensiv erforscht, jedoch gibt es Defizite in der Untersuchung sozialer Auswirkungen, die als eine Ursache für Gesundheitsfolgen von Schichtarbeit diskutiert werden. In der vorliegenden Studie wird der Zusammenhang zwischen der Vereinbarkeit von Arbeit und Privatleben und dem Gesundheitszustand von Schichtarbeitern im Vergleich zu Beschäftigten mit Normalarbeitszeiten in einer Mediationsanalyse untersucht. Dazu werden Daten der für Deutschland repräsentativen BIBB/BAuA-Erwerbstätigenbefragung 2018 genutzt. Beschäftigte in Schichtarbeit sind häufiger von erschwerter Vereinbarkeit und psychosomatischen Beschwerden betroffen als Beschäftigte in Normalarbeitszeit. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Vereinbarkeit von Arbeit und Privatleben als Mediator in der Beziehung zwischen Schichtarbeit und psychosomatischen Beschwerden agiert. Dies gilt für Frauen und für Männer. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen die Bedeutung sozialer Auswirkungen von Schichtarbeit als mögliche Ursache für gesundheitliche Beschwerden. Praktische Relevanz: Beschäftigten in Schichtarbeit gelingt es seltener Anforderungen der Lebensbereiche Arbeit und Familie auszubalancieren. Dieser Konflikt geht mit einem gesundheitlichen Risiko einher. Das Wissen um dieses Risiko ist von praktischer Relevanz, da Betriebe die Vereinbarkeit von Arbeit und Privatleben explizit in Maßnahmen betrieblicher Gesundheitsförderung oder bei der regulären Arbeitszeitgestaltung berücksichtigen können. Führungskräfte und Beschäftigte in Schichtarbeit sollten darüber hinaus wissen, dass Probleme in der Vereinbarkeit von Arbeit und Privatleben einen bedeutenden Stressor darstellen. Health consequences of shift work have been investigated intensively, while there is a lack of research on social consequences of shift work, although social consequences have been discussed as a reason for health consequences of shift work. In this present study, we investigate the association between compatibility of work and private life and health status of shift workers compared to employees with regular working hours in a mediation analyses. To do so, we applied data from the German representative BIBB/BAuA employment survey 2018. Employees in shift work showed more often difficulties in the compatibility of work and private life and psychosomatic complaints than employees with regular working hours. The compatibility of work and private life partially mediated the relationship between shift work and psychosomatic complaints. This was the case for men and women. Our results support the importance of social consequences of shift work, one of the possible causes for negative health consequences of shift work. Practical Relevance: Shift workers face more often difficulties in balancing the demands of the areas of work and family life. This conflict has health consequences. The knowledge of this risk is of practical relevance, because companies could explicitly target the compatibility of work and private life in interventions of workplace health promotion or in the regular organization of working time. Leaders and shift workers should be aware that difficulties in the compatibility of work and private life are an important stressor.

Trotz der gesellschaftlichen Normalisierung und moralischen Entproblematisierung von Trennung und Scheidung stellen diese für die Betroffenen für gewöhnlich alles andere als normale, unproblematische Ereignisse dar. Das Geschehen muss geordnet, die Trennung legitimiert und die eigene Identität rehabilitiert werden, was zu auffälligen Erzähldynamiken in Interviews der qualitativen Trennungsforschung führen kann. Neben der Analyse des Zusammenhangs von Form, Inhalt und Funktion von Trennungserzählungen konnte die bisherige Forschung auch einige soziale Differenzierungen aufzeigen: nach Rolle, Geschlecht und sozialstrukturellen Faktoren. Auf Basis einer narrativen, funktionalen Analyse von 46 Interviews (23 Ex-Paare) aus unserer Studie "Paare nach der Trennung" fügen wir als weitere, übergeordnete Differenzierung die Milieuunterscheidung hinzu, die in der Forschung zu Trennungsnarrativen bislang unbeachtet war und die die bisherigen Differenzierungen integriert. Unser Argument, dass Trennungsnarrative milieuspezifisch gestaltet sind, exemplifizieren wir anhand zweier kontrastiver Milieus: dem individualisierten und dem traditionalen Milieu. Diese unterscheiden sich in fundamentaler Weise in ihren Beziehungsleitbildern und entsprechenden Trennungslegitimationen, in ihren Plausibilisierungsstrategien und in ihrer Vorstellung dessen, was als erstrebenswerte Identität gilt. Über den konkreten Gegenstand von Trennungen und Trennungserzählungen hinaus weisen wir in diesem Beitrag auf zwei für die qualitative Forschung wichtige Aspekte hin: die Milieudifferenzierung und das Verhältnis von Performanz und Repräsentanz in Interviews., Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol 20, No 1 (2019)

Von den in Deutschland lebenden Minderjährigen haben über ein Drittel (36,5 %) einen Migrationshintergrund. Basierend auf den Daten der zweiten Folgeerhebung der Studie zur Gesundheit von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland (KiGGS Welle 2, 2014 – 2017) wird die gesundheitliche Lage von 11- bis 17-Jährigen mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund anhand ausgewählter Indikatoren beschrieben. Da Kinder und Jugendliche mit Migrationshintergrund eine in sich vielfältige Gruppe darstellen, werden die Gesundheitsindikatoren nicht nur nach dem Vorliegen eines Migrationshintergrundes, sondern auch nach weiteren migrationsbezogenen Merkmalen stratifiziert. Darüber hinaus erfolgt in den einzelnen Subgruppen eine Differenzierung der Ergebnisse nach soziodemografischen Merkmalen. Im Hinblick auf die Selbsteinschätzung des allgemeinen Gesundheitszustandes sowie der ambulanten Inanspruchnahme pädiatrischer und allgemeinmedizinischer Leistungen bestehen keine Unterschiede zwischen den 11- bis 17-Jährigen mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund. Demgegenüber zeigen sich migrationsbezogene Unterschiede im Gesundheitsverhalten. Während Kinder und Jugendliche mit ein- sowie beidseitigem Migrationshintergrund häufiger als Gleichaltrige ohne Migrationshintergrund von Übergewicht (einschließlich Adipositas) betroffen sind, konsumieren sie seltener Alkohol in riskanten Mengen. Zudem konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Outcomes der untersuchten Indikatoren nach migrationsbezogenen und soziodemografischen Merkmalen variieren.

The inferential quality of an available data set, be it from a probability sample or a nonprobability sample, is discussed under the standard of the representativeness of a sample with regard to interesting characteristics, which implicitly includes the consideration of the total survey error. The paper focuses on the assumptions that are made when calculating an estimator of a certain population characteristic using a specific sampling method, and on the model-based repair methods, which can be applied in the case of deviations from these assumptions. The different implicit assumptions regarding operationalization, frame, selection method, nonresponse, measurement, and data processing are considered exemplarily for the Horvitz-Thompson estimator of a population total. In particular, the remarkable effect of a deviation from the assumption concerning the selection method is discussed. It is shown that there are far more unverifiable, disputable models addressing the different implicit assumptions needed in the nonprobability approach to sampling, including big data. Moreover, the definition of the informative samples with respect to the expressed survey purpose is presented, which complements the definition of the representativeness of samples in the practice of survey sampling. Finally, an answer to the question in the title of this study is given and detailed reports regarding the applied survey design are recommended.

As part of the project Improving Health Monitoring in Migrant Populations (IMIRA), a (core) set of indicators was developed to describe the health of people with a migration background. This work was underpinned by research into and assessment of relevant data sources in the field of migration and health. Initially, four fields of action were identified together with a number of associated topics and potential indicators for each of the area’s individual topics. The choice of core indicators was based on (1) a systematic comparison of widely accepted indicator systems, (2) an assessment of public health relevance, (3) comprehensibility and (4) informative value, as well as (5) the availability of (largely) representative data that could properly account for the diversity of the migrant population. The (core) indicator set was finalised using an internal and external indicator development process that involved an interdisciplinary expert panel. This resulted in the selection of 25 core indicators; 41 additional indicators were documented as part of an ‘extended’ indicator set. The (core) set of indicators is to be continually developed in line with the work being undertaken to improve the integration of people with a migration background in the health monitoring conducted at the Robert Koch Institute. In the future, the indicator set is to be incorporated into an overall concept to regular, migration-related health reporting.

Coverage of the population within the sampling frame is a very important quality characteristic of a study. However, a metrical evaluation of the coverage bias to approach the question of representativeness is usually not possible. Switzerland stands out in that the federal statistical office (SFSO) has legal access to population registers (person universe) and a full list of landline telephone numbers (phone number universe). However, these data are not available for research institutes, which must rely on commercially available number collections or RDD sampling frames. This paper wants to quantify the coverage bias of such alternative sampling frames by metric calculation of their congruence with the SFSO universes. The analysis shows that 85.0% of private phone numbers and 88.9% of the resident population of Switzerland that can be reached via landline by the SFSO definition (non-ALTELs) are included in our exemplarily analyzed commercially available phone number collection. The highest coverage bias is present in the 20-39 age group. The RDD frame covers 97.8% of private phone numbers and 99.8% of non-ALTEL persons. Hence, both available alternative sampling frames are useful for representative studies. Finally, the potential of use of the Swiss coverage results as benchmarks for other countries is discussed., methods, data, analyses, Vol 10, No 2 (2016)

How to achieve survey representativeness is a controversially debated issue in the field of survey methodology. Common questions include whether probability-based samples produce more representative data than nonprobability samples, whether the response rate determines the overall degree of survey representativeness, and which survey modes are effective in generating highly representative data. This meta-analysis contributes to this debate by synthesizing and analyzing the literature on two common measures of survey representativeness (R-Indicators and descriptive benchmark comparisons). Our findings indicate that probability-based samples (compared to nonprobability samples), mixed-mode surveys (compared to single-mode surveys), and other-than-Web modes (compared to Web surveys) are more representative, respectively. In addition, we find that there is a positive association between representativeness and the response rate as well as the number of auxiliary variables used in representativeness assessments. Furthermore, we identify significant gaps in the research literature that we hope might encourage further research in this area., Survey Research Methods, Vol 12, No 1 (2018)

The legislatures of Colombia and Ecuador have reserved seats for their non-resident citizens (emigrants). This paper analyses the relationship between the formal, descriptive, and substantive dimensions of emigrant representation in their homeland legislatures. The analysis compares the legislative work of emigrant MPs (EMPs) with the legislative work of non-emigrant MPs (NEMPs) in Ecuador and Colombia. It presents a mixed methods approach that combines a quantitative text analysis based on an original dataset –composed of 35,446 floor speeches– with in-depth interviews with six EMPs. The results show that emigrant-related issues are significantly more salient in the legislature of Ecuador and Colombia suggesting that the effect of emigrant-reserved seats is correlated to the size of the external district. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that EMPs have a ‘mixed agenda’ composed by emigrant and domestic-related issues. Finally, the article shows that the probability of classifying a speech as emigrant-related increases when it is given by an EMP and not a NEMP. This effect is stronger in Ecuador than in Colombia. All in all, the article shows evidence that configurations that allocate several EMPs are more efficient in achieving substantive representation.

Informationsdienst Soziale Indikatoren No. 60 (2018): Sonderausgabe: Wählerverhalten und Parteiensystem im Wandel - 40 Jahre Politbarometer. Beginn und Erscheinungsfrequenz: Jahr: 1989, Ausgaben pro Jahr: 2, Social Indicators Information Service No. 60 (2018). Beginn und Erscheinungsfrequenz: Year: 1989, Issues per Year: 2, Social Indicators Information Service, Informationsdienst Soziale Indikatoren

Interactive voice response (IVR) is gaining popularity as a data collection method for survey research. In low- and middle-income countries, IVR is used as a primary data collection mode. The system places an out-bound dial; when the individual answers, he/she hears a recorded greeting and invitation to begin the survey. This approach has the benefit of reducing labor costs, but without an interviewer, there is no one to help gain cooperation, answer questions, or identify the appropriate language in which to continue, resulting in low production outcome rates (e.g., cooperation rate, response rate). In this paper, we use experiments embedded in four studies in three countries (Ghana, Malawi, and Nigeria) to test how three design choices affect production and representativeness in IVR surveys in low- and middle-income countries. Specifically, (1) should we send an SMS (i.e., text message) prior to the first IVR contact? (2) Where should we place the language selector within the introduction? (3) Should we notify the individual that they are listening to a recording during the introduction? While some of these design choices resulted in different production outcome rates at different points in the survey, there was no clear effect on overall yields nor on the representativeness of the sample.

The present study investigates the impact of survey design choices on the representativity and nonresponse of eight sub-surveys conducted among non-Western minorities in The Netherlands. The surveys were part of a repeated, cross-sectional measurement conducted separately among each of the four largest non-Western minority groups. This study utilizes fieldwork outcomes in conjunction with the R-indicator and maximal absolute standardized bias to show the impact of survey design choices - such as the period and length of fieldwork, the use of bilingual interviewers, the number of face-to-face call attempts and a re-issue of nonresponding sampled persons - on the potential nonresponse bias. Partial R-indicators are used to detect which socio-demographic subgroups contribute the most to a nonrepresentative response, conditional on ethnic group and survey design. The results indicate that long fieldwork periods increase the potential for nonresponse bias among non-Western minorities due to moving and that the timing of fieldwork has an impact on the number of sampled persons who are unavailable during the fieldwork period. Furthermore, the use of bilingual interviewers is necessary to conduct a survey among Turkish and Moroccans due to language problems; otherwise the potential for nonresponse bias can be quite severe. Also, the use of a re-issue phase reduces the potential for nonresponse bias in surveys among non-Western minorities in The Netherlands. Finally, partial R-indicator analyses provide further insight on how future surveys can be improved in order to reduce the potential for nonresponse bias among each of the four non-Western minority groups. Editor Note: The originally published version of this article has been replaced by a corrected version on 13/02/2015. The corrections concerned two numbers in Table 2., Survey Research Methods, Vol 8, No 2 (2014)

This case study explores how the Korea Leukemia Patient Group (KLPG) uses social media in its internal communication strategy and how that empowers its relationship with external counterparts. This study’s findings indicate that the communication strategy of the local health Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) is changing in response to the increased effectiveness and impact of social media. Using social media (e.g., Twitter) the KLPG can quickly and effectively construct an issue-based advocacy group. Consequently, more legitimacy and representativeness through collected support from the general public have further empowered the KLPG. Yet, the sustainability component in the relationships built through social media use was not evidenced in the current findings. The effects of social media use were analyzed based on data from interviews with top-level KLPG executive members and general members, and from documentation and archival materials. Limitations and suggestions for future research are included.

Refusal conversion is one of the fieldwork strategies commonly used to minimise non-response in surveys. There is, however, relatively little evidence about the effectiveness of this strategy, particularly for face-to-face longitudinal surveys. Moreover, much of the existing evidence is based on observational studies. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a fieldwork strategy – intensive re-issuing - to convert refusals using evidence from an intervention on a random sub-sample of refusals implemented in wave four of a large scale longitudinal study in the UK: the Millennium Cohort Study. We show that intensive re-issuing is an effective way of reducing the refusal rate. We also show that refusal conversion led to a modest reduction in non-response bias in the survey estimates for several key variables. The longer term impact of refusal conversion is also a key concern in longitudinal surveys. We demonstrate that, although the majority of converted refusals go on to participate in the subsequent wave of the study, there is no overall effect of intensive re-issuing on sample size at this wave., Survey Research Methods, Vol 10, No 3 (2016)

Immer haufiger werden wir im Alltag und den Medien mit Umfragen und deren Ergebnissen konfrontiert, wissen aber oftmals nicht, wie wir deren Qualitat und Vertrauenswurdigkeit einschatzen konnen. Dieser Aufsatz verdeutlicht am Beispiel des Umfrageprogramms European Social Survey (ESS), welche Standards Umfragen erfullen sollten, um ein verlassliches Abbild der Meinungen und Einstellungen innerhalb der Bevolkerung zu liefern.

Achieving a representative sample is an important goal for every survey. High response rates are often referred to as an indicator of representativeness in survey methodology research. However, a low response rate does not necessarily imply low representativeness, so that alternative ways of assessing representativeness are needed in times where low response rates are almost ubiquitous. This study asks whether education, a socio-demographic variable covered by virtually every survey of individuals, is a good variable for assessing the representativeness of a realised survey sample. We examine this issue in two steps: Firstly, the distributions of the harmonised education variable in six official and academic cross-national surveys by country-year combination are compared with the respective education distributions in a high-quality reference dataset. Doing so, we identify many substantial inconsistencies. Secondly, we try to identify the sources of these inconsistencies, looking at both measurement errors in the education variables and errors of representation. Since in most instances, inconsistent measurement procedures can probably explain the observed inconsistencies, we conclude that the education variable as currently measured in cross-national surveys is, without further processing, unsuitable for assessing sample representativeness, and constructing nonresponse weights. The paper closes with recommendations for achieving a more comparable measurement of the education variable., Survey Research Methods, Vol 10, No 3 (2016)

Response rates were compared across a postal and a Web-based survey containing the same questions about preferences for future for the design of future nursing homes which were sent to a random sample of 10,000 individuals aged 50-75 years. The 10,000 individuals were randomly allocated to receive a postal questionnaire or a letter with a Web link to an online version of the same questionnaire. The Web-based survey gave a significantly lower response rate than the postal survey. The Web-based version improved the sample representativeness with respect to gender but worsened the representativeness with respect to age. Respondents' characteristics in the Web-based survey differed significantly from those of respondents in the postal survey with respect to income, education, civil status and health status. The Web-based version improved data quality by significantly lowering the number of item non-response and 'don't know' answers. Respondents found it easier to answer the Web-based survey. The cost per response was significantly higher for the Web-based survey because of the significantly lower response rate compared to the postal survey., Survey Research Methods, Vol 3, No 1 (2009)

Background: The National Cohort (Nationale Kohorte = NaKo ) will be one of the largest cohort studies in Europe to include intensive physical examinations and extensive information about the socio-demographic background and behavior of the subjects. However, regional selectivity of the study and potential learning effects due to the panel structure of the data present challenges for researchers using it. Methods: We discuss the two problems and show how they might lead to potential biases when trying to obtain result s from the National Cohort that are representative for the total population of Germany. We suggest that the long-running German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) should be used as a reference data set for population means and as a control sample for detection of learning effects (panel effects) induced by information about the results of individual medical examinations. Results : We present a wide range of topics and indicators which are available in both the German Socio - Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and the National Cohort ( NaKo ). These items can be harmonized to make the datasets comparable. The range of topics that overlap between SOEP and NaKo include socio-demographic variables, general indicators, socio-psychological environment, and to a limited extent biomarkers. Conclusion: Harmonizing certain survey item batteries from the NaKo to the SOEP standard can yield a great deal of additional research potential. This holds true both for researchers mainly interested in the NaKo data and for those mainly interested in the SOEP. Key points: Regional selectivity and learning effects in the National Cohort can be analyzed by using a reference data set: the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) Study. Conclusions for healthy policy based on the National Cohort can more easily be generalized to the total population of Germany living in private households. Harmonizing survey items between SOEP and NaKo would make it possible to validate and improve health-related survey questions in the SOEP.

"Im Vorfeld von Analysen der personellen Einkommensverteilung auf Basis der Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichproben (EVS) und des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) stellen sich grundsätzliche methodische Fragen. Beide Haushaltsstichproben unterscheiden sich wesentlich hinsichtlich der Erhebungsinhalte, der Stichprobenrekrutierung und -größe, der zeitlichen Bezüge und des Beobachtungshorizonts (Querschnitts- versus Längsschnittstudie) sowie der Gestaltung und Durchführung der Befragung. Mit dem vorliegenden Papier werden daraus resultierende spezifische Probleme sowie Anforderungen an Datenaufbereitung, Hochrechnung und Analyse aufgezeigt. Abschließend werden aggregierte Ergebnisse von EVS und SOEP entsprechenden Zahlen der amtlichen Statistik gegenübergestellt. Damit sollen besondere Einschränkungen der Repräsentativität aufgedeckt werden. Das Aggregat der 'Masseneinkommen' aus unselbständiger Arbeit wird nahezu vollständig, die wesentlichsten Transfers der staatlichen sozialen Sicherungssysteme werden weit gehend nachgewiesen. Demgegenüber sind die Einkommen aus Unternehmertätigkeit und Vermögen unzureichend erfasst, was als Einschränkung der Aussagekraft von EVS und SOEP zu berück-sichtigen ist. Letztlich muss mit einem 'Mittelstands-Bias' gerechnet werden. Ungleichheitsmaße auf der Basis von Stichproben sollten deshalb eher als untere Grenzwerte der tatsächlichen Spreizung in der Einkommensverteilung interpretiert werden. Diese Vorbehalte betreffen allerdings weniger die sich ergebende Entwicklungsrichtung der Indikatoren als deren absolutes Niveau." (Autorenreferat) "When analysing income distribution with data of the Income and Consumption Surveys (EVS) and the Socio-economic Panel (SOEP) some methodological questions should be dis-cussed in advance. Between these household surveys there are great differences in many aspects, namely in subjects covered, in sampling method and sample size, in accounting period and time horizon (cross-section versus longitudinal survey) as well as in design and implementation of questioning. This paper deals with specific problems resulting from the both approaches of inquiry and with requirements to concepts of data editing, weighting and analysing. Finally aggregates based on EVS and SOEP are compared with official statistics. This procedure aims to get an impression about coverage of income components and some population groups by the surveys. Labour income is nearly completely, social transfers are broadly represented. But the sum of reported income from self employment and from assets falls short by far from the official aggregate. Insofar evidence of EVS- and SOEP-results is restricted, and indicators probably are biased because of overrepresentation of middle income groups. Thus, inequality measures based on survey data should be interpreted as lower limit of real dispersion of incomes. Indeed, this objection concerns especially the level of inequality indicators but only little their development in time." (author's abstract)

Die Vorstudie enthält ein Konzept für Forschungsdesign und Erhebungsinstrumente für eine repräsentative quantitative Befragung zur Teilhabe von Menschen mit Behinderungen. Im Einzelnen werden Inhalte und Themenfelder, Grundüberlegungen zur Realisierung der Repräsentativität, relevante Teilpopulationen, die Stichprobenkonzeption und Zielgruppengewinnung sowie die Entwicklung eines geeigneten Fragebogens in Anlehnung an bestehende (inter-)nationale Surveys und andere Erhebungen konkretisiert. Die Studie empfiehlt Methodik und Konzeption von vertiefenden qualitativen Befragungen. Sie prüft bereits bestehende regelmäßige bundesweite Befragungen und Datenerhebungen, um festzustellen, wie ergänzend ein Aufbau von Längsschnittdaten für das Monitoring erfolgen kann und macht dazu Erweiterungsvorschläge.

"Social-Media-Analyse (SMA)-Techniken ermöglichen es zehn Jahre nach der Einführung von Facebook, das Web-2.0-Publikationsverhalten von BürgerInnen auch in gesellschaftlich relevanten Politikfeldern wie der Integration von MigrantInnen für wissenschaftliche Institutionen und öffentliche Verwaltungen zu erforschen. Am Fallbeispiel des von der EU-Kommission geförderten Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekts 'UniteEurope' untersucht der vorliegende Artikel die ethischen Bedingungen, unter denen solche Analysen stattfinden können. Dabei stehen zwei Aspekte im Vordergrund: Zum einen geht es um den Schutz der Privatsphäre von AutorInnen der erforschten Inhalte. Zum anderen beleuchtet der Artikel Möglichkeiten von Social-Media-Analyse-Technologien, die fehlende gesellschaftliche Repräsentativität im Internet zu berücksichtigen, ohne die Ergebnisse quantitativ zu gewichten." (Autorenreferat) "Ten years after the launch of Facebook, social-media-analysis (SMA) technologies make it possible for scientific institutions as well as public authorities to investigate Web 2.0 postings of citizens in socially relevant policy fields such as migrant integration. Using the case of the European Commission's funded research and development project 'UniteEurope', this article examines the ethical conditions that are necessary for such analysis. Thereby, two aspects appear to be crucial: On the one hand, this article raises questions of privacy of the original authors who posted the researched content. On the other hand, the article also explores possible measures that social-media-analysis technologies can employ in order to consider the missing representativeness of the Internet, without introducing a quantitative weighting of results." (author's abstract)

So far, most surveys used face-to-face or telephone questionnaires in order to collect data. But the costs of achieving a survey using these traditional modes increase. At the same time, the response rates decrease, making the idea of switching mode very attractive. Because each mode has its own weaknesses and strengths, the idea of mixing modes of data collection is becoming more and more popular. Nevertheless, combining different modes of data collection may be problematic if people answer differently depending on the mode. Also, a switch from a unimode to a mixed-mode design may threaten the comparability of the data across time. This paper focuses first on the selection effect and shows that different kinds of respondents answer in different modes: therefore, mixing modes might make sense since it may improve the representativeness of the sample keeping the costs low. It is still necessary however to guarantee that mixing modes would not threaten the comparability. Then, the paper therefore compares the quality of questions asked in a unimode and two mixed-mode surveys. Using data of the European Social Survey (ESS) in the Netherlands, and following a multitrait-multimethod approach (MTMM), few differences are found between the unimode and mixed-mode designs in terms of quality. Looking at the differences across modes lead to slightly less similarities, but overall the quality does not change much., Survey Research Methods, Vol 4, No 3 (2010)

"This paper concentrates on the trends in peer-reviewed longitudinal panel studies under scientific direction. Household panel studies have succeeded in broadening their disciplinary scope. Numerous innovations such as questions dealing with psychological concepts, and age-specific topical modules, physical health measures, measures of cognitive capabilities, behavioral experiments have been incorporated into various panel studies or are soon to be introduced. In the UK, the household panel study Understanding Society comprising 40,000 households was launched in 2009 and recently added an “innovation sample”; in the Netherlands, the new LISS household panel study launched in 2006 with over 5,000 households will be used for the testing of innovative measurement methods. The microdata from household panel studies like PSID (US Household Panel Study), BHPS (the predecessor of UK HLS), HILDA (Australian Panel Study), and SOEP (German Socio-Economic Panel) are in continuously high demand by the research and policy advisory community. More important than "discovering" entirely new survey areas is "tailoring" the details of existing survey content to new, more specific (theoretical) questions, and thus maintaining proven and widely used elements of survey content. In the years to come, "tailoring" survey content will be the real challenge facing surveys that are integrated into the existing research infrastructure like HILDA, LISS, PSID, SHP (Swiss Panel), SOEP, and Understanding Society. We argue that, in the future, household panel studies should be designed to take the "margins" of the life course more fully into account. Indeed, household surveys are ideally suited to gather comprehensive data on these life phases. They can be improved, on the one hand, by including specific topics about the fetal phase of life and early childhood of children born into the panel, and on the other hand, by including better information about late life and death. In the middle of the life course, improved questions on income, savings, consumption, and wealth, as well as psychological constructs will play a central role, as will specific "event-triggered" questionnaires on central life occurrences such as marriage, divorce, and entry into and exit from unemployment. In order to substantially improve the statistical power of long-term longitudinal data, we propose an absolute minimum number of observations of about 500 persons per birth and age cohort. As of now, only the British Understanding Society will meet this target. A positive side-effect of such an enlargement is a significantly improved potential for analyses of relatively small groups within the population: for example, lone parents or specific immigrant groups. Another positive side-effect would be an improved potential for regional analyses. For example, in Germany, a cohort size of about 500 persons implies a survey sample size of about 20,000 households, which is large enough for analyses in the majority of federal states. Multidisciplinary panel studies will become even more important if they are accepted as reference datasets for specialized surveys that are independent of the original panel study (e.g., observational studies such as twin studies and laboratory or intervention studies). To enhance this important function, new types of service are needed, including advice on special surveys and possibly also data preparation for special surveys." (author's abstract)

Empirical research is a valuable everyday tool for adult educators. This volume offers essential basic and contextual information relating to the topic. The text is application-oriented and its structure follows the stages of a research project from conception to implementation. The author leads the reader through the entire research process in didactically meaningful steps, from the research question to data collection right through to the presentation of the research results. The text will support students and instructors involved in planning and performing research tasks, and it supplies the knowledge necessary to generate meaningful results. The textbook does not assume any previous knowledge and is written with those in mind who are newcomers in the field of empirical research in further education. Empirische Forschungsmethoden sind für Erwachsenenbildner heutzutage ein unerlässliches Arbeitswerkzeug im Berufsalltag. Ekkehard Nuissl vermittelt das notwendige Grundlagen- und Kontextwissen zum Thema. Der Studientext ist anwendungsorientiert und folgt in seinem Aufbau im Wesentlichen den Schritten, die bei der Durchführung eines eigenen Forschungsprojekts zu beachten sind. Von der Ausgangsfrage über die Datenerhebung bis hin zur Präsentation der Ergebnisse führt der Autor in didaktisch sinnvollen Lektionen durch den gesamten Forschungsprozess. Dies hilft Studierenden und Weiterbildungspraktikern, die eigenen Forschungsziele im Blick zu behalten und aussagekräftige Daten zu generieren. Der Studientext setzt keine Vorkenntnisse voraus und orientiert sich an den Bedürfnissen von Neueinsteigern, die im Bereich der Weiterbildung empirisch forschen wollen.

"Empirische Befunde zur rücklaufsteigernden Wirkung von Remindern sind konsistent und zahlreich. Nur wenige Studien beschäftigen sich mit dem Einfluss von Nachfassaktionen auf das Antwortverhalten der Respondenten und die soziale Zusammensetzung der Befragtenstichprobe. Vorliegender Beitrag untersucht diese Aspekte anhand der Daten einer im Jahr 2009 im Raum Südbaden durchgeführten postalischen Befragung (N=3.555) unter 49- bis 81-Jährigen zum Thema 'Kriminalität im höheren Lebensalter'. Die Analysen ergeben, dass das Ausmaß fehlender Antworten (Item-Nonresponse) mit den Mahnaktionen zunimmt, wobei der Zusammenhang zwischen der Zahl der Nachfassaktionen und der Zahl fehlender Antworten kurvilinear ist. Mahnaktionen rekrutieren v.a. Gruppierungen in die Befragungsstichprobe, die nach einmaligem Anschreiben üblicherweise unterrepräsentiert sind - nämlich Personen, die jünger sind, im ländlichen Raum wohnen sowie einen schwächeren Sozialstatus und geringeres politisches Interesse aufweisen. Mahnaktionen tragen damit zu einer Verbesserung der sozialen Zusammensetzung der Stichprobe bei. Hinsichtlich sozio-demographischer Merkmale sowie psychosozialer Befindlichkeiten unterscheiden sich die Befragten des Erstversands allerdings nicht gravierend von denen der gesamten Befragungsstichprobe. Eine Ausnahme stellt das kriminelle Handeln der Befragten über die Lebensspanne dar: mit zunehmenden Kontaktierungen werden deutlich weniger delinquente Personen in die Befragung einbezogen. Die Antworten der Respondenten zum Befragungsthema stehen demnach in deutlichem Zusammenhang zum Erhebungszeitpunkt. Nachfassaktionen können somit auch hier zur Abschwächung anfänglicher Verzerrungen beitragen. Aus methodischer Sicht sollten Mahnaktionen deshalb prinzipiell in das Erhebungsdesign postalischer Befragungen eingeplant werden. Insgesamt drei Erhebungszeitpunkte erscheinen dabei optimal." (Autorenreferat) "The fact that reminders increase the response rates of mail surveys is empirically documented. However, only a few studies have dealt with the effect of follow-up mailings on both response behavior and sample composition. This article investigates these aspects using data from a regionally representative mail survey (N=3.555) on crime at advanced ages among 49 to 81 years-olds that was conducted in Südbaden/ Baden-Württemberg in 2009. The analyses showed that the use of follow-ups increased the number of missing values (item-nonresponse), with a curvilinear relation between the number of follow-ups and the extent of item-nonresponse. Follow-ups primarily involve people that are usually underrepresented in the first wave, i.e., people who are younger, living in rural areas, having a lower social status and weaker political interest. Using reminders therefore contributes to an enhanced social composition of the net sample. Nevertheless, the respondents of the first mailing do not differ fundamentally from those of the complete survey sample in terms of their social variables as well as their psycho-social characteristics. However, one exception is the respondents' criminal behaviour over the life-course: with increasing numbers of mailings the respondents' delinquency strongly decreases. Obviously, responses on the survey topic are thus correlated with the timing of data collection. This again shows how reminders can help diminishing biases. From a methodological point of view it is therefore recommended to always include follow-up mailings in postal surveys. Three mailings seem to be ideal." (author's abstract)

Bezug nehmend auf Befunde empirischer Analysen im Rahmen der DFG-Studie "Politische Einstellungen, politische Partizipation und Wählerverhalten im vereinigten Deutschland" argumentiert der Verfasser, dass es überzogen erscheint, die Panelmethode aufgrund ihres bedeutsamsten Makels - nämlich der Panelmortalität - als Ganzes infrage zu stellen. Auf der anderen Seite verbietet sich aber eine unreflektierte Betrachtung von Ergebnissen auf der Grundlage von Paneldaten ebenso. Panelmortalität stellt für Längsschnitterhebungen eine wichtige Restriktion dar, denn sie vollzieht sich in aller Regel eben nicht zufällig. Sozialstrukturelle Merkmale spielen bei der Frage, ob sich eine Person auch ein weiteres Mal befragen lässt, ebenso eine Rolle wie das Interesse und die subjektive Kompetenz in Bezug auf den Untersuchungsgegenstand. Gerade vor dem Hintergrund der Komplexität des Themenbereichs Politik ist die Panelmortalität für politikwissenschaftliche Umfragen besonders ernst zu nehmen. Die Untersuchung hat ergeben, dass subjektives politisches Interesse einen bedeutsamen Prädiktor der Teilnahme an den Folgewellen darstellt. Das Panel erweist sich im Vergleich zu den parallelen Querschnitterhebungen als wesentlich stärker politisiert. Für die Verteilung von zahlreichen Merkmalen hat dies Konsequenzen. Am Beispiel der Wahlbeteiligung bzw. Wahlabsicht wird gezeigt, dass diese im Panel im Zeitraum von 1994 bis 2002 kontinuierlich ansteigt. Offenbar verbirgt sich dahinter jedoch kein realer Trend, da ein solcher in den Querschnitterhebungen nicht zu erkennen ist. Daraus ließe sich ableiten, dass es in den Paneldaten zu systematischen Verzerrungen der univariaten Verteilungen kommt, wenn die interessierenden Merkmale mit dem politischen Interesse in Zusammenhang stehen. Für die weitaus meisten Einstellungsdimensionen des Syndroms Politikverdrossenheit waren solche Verzerrungen nicht zu erkennen, wohl aber bei der Dimension der internal efficacy. Da diese subjektive politische Kompetenz abbildet, ist ihre Nähe zur Selbsteinschätzung des politischen Interesses offenkundig. (ICF2)

Im Verlauf der letzten Dekade haben sich die zeitlichen Ansprüche an die traditionelle Marktforschung radikal verändert. Wie [Greenberg00] zeigt, ist die Produktlebensspanne einer aktuellen Digitalkamera auf knapp 6 Monate begrenzt, wobei 80% des Produktgewinns in den ersten zwei Monaten nach Markteinführung realisiert werden. Durch diese Entwicklung ergibt sich für den Marktforscher die Notwendigkeit, Informationen über Kunden und Märkte möglichst zeitnah zu beschaffen und zur Verfügung stellen zu können. Eine mögliche Lösung liegt in der Durchführung von Befragungen im Internet. Online-Befragungen sind mit geringen Kosten verbunden und lassen sich schnell und zeitnah durchführen – meist können bereits wenige Tage nach Beginn der Befragung erste Ergebnisse präsentiert werden. Aufgrund dieser Eigenschaften vertraten viele Branchenkenner zum Jahrtausendwechsel die Auffassung, dass Online-Befragungen konventionelle Befragungen graduell ablösen würden. Diese hohen Erwartungen haben sich inzwischen als nicht realistisch erwiesen, hauptsächlich aufgrund von Zweifeln an der Repräsentativität solcher Erhebungen.

Der Autor geht der Frage nach, ob die Telefonstichproben der Markt- und Sozialforschung, die auf einem Auswahlmechanismus beruhen, welcher im Normalfall ausschließlich Festnetzrufnummern beinhaltet, im Jahre 2007 noch geeignet sind, qualitativ hochwertige Stichproben der Gesamtbevölkerung zu liefern. Denn die Zunahme der Mobilfunknutzung führt dazu, dass die Erreichbarkeit im Festnetz nicht mehr gegeben ist. Nicht nur die Anzahl derjenigen, die ausschließlich Mobilfunk nutzen, ist dabei von Interesse, sondern es kommt ein zweiter Aspekt hinzu: Gibt es systematische Unterschiede zwischen diesen beiden Subpopulationen und wenn ja, welche? Mit diesen beiden Fragekomplexen beschäftigt sich der erste Abschnitt des Beitrags anhand von Befragungsdaten aus dem TNS Infratest Face-to-Face-Omnibus. Im zweiten Abschnitt wird dargestellt, welche Lösungsansätze im Hinblick auf eine Integration der Mobilfunknummern in einen Auswahlrahmen für Telefonstichproben bislang verfolgt wurden. Abschließend werden einige weiterführende Aspekte diskutiert, die für die noch ausstehende Lösung des Mobilfunkproblems in Zukunft relevant sein könnten. (ICI2) "The article deals with the increasing use of mobile phones (cellular phones) in Germany with regard to the impact on probability sampling based on landline sample frames. Although the mobile penetration in the population is on a high density level the exclusive use of cell-phones and the abdication of fixed-line-telephones is quiet rare. Nevertheless the mobile-only-use has in some sub-populations reached a critical stage. In the last years research on methods of Market- und Social-Research have tried several ways of including mobile-phone-numbers in random telephone-samples. Currently a special form of random-last-digit approach, based on sophisticated reference lists not on the telephone-book, seems to be the most promising solution. Furthermore a coherent sample-design still needs to be developed in order to ensure efficient fieldwork and acceptable pricing. Last but not least the dynamic of the telecommunication sector should not be lost of track. On the one hand broadband internet connections will perhaps revitalise landline-phones. On the other hand new technical solutions will come up soon and will lead to further problems and possibilities for the future." (author's abstract)

"Diese Studie handelt von der Stichprobengenerierung von telefonischen Umfragen. Es geht dabei um die möglichst valide Erfassung der Anzahl von Telefonnummern, unter denen Haushalte in Deutschland erreichbar sind. Diese Zahl wird benötigt, um die Auswahlchance der Haushalte nachträglich per Gewichtung nivellieren zu können. Die Telekommunikationseinrichtungen heutzutage sind so komplex, dass zu befürchten ist, dass mit einfachen Fragen zu Beginn eines Interviews die korrekte Anzahl an Telefonnummern nicht zu erfassen ist. Tatsächlich zeigte sich, dass sich die Befragten bei Einzelfragen zur Telekommunikationseinrichtung erst mit diesem Thema vertraut machen müssen, bevor sie valide die Anzahl der Telefonnummern angeben können. Die Mobilfunknummern und die 'virtuellen' Festnetznummern, die man bei einigen Mobilfunkprovidern erhält, werden häufig vergessen." (Autorenreferat)

"Das ADM-CATI-Telefonstichprobensystem verwendet das Gabler-Häder-Verfahren zum Generieren von Rufnummern, um auch nicht-eingetragene Telefonanschlüsse in der Auswahlgrundlage zu berücksichtigen. Das Generierungsmodell für CATI-Stichproben konnte in den letzten zwei Jahren durch die Erschließung neuer Quellen sowohl im Bereich des Mobilfunks als auch im Festnetz erweitert und verbessert werden. Dieser Beitrag soll für beide Netzarten die Änderungen in der Erstellung der ADM-CATI-Auswahlgrundlagen darstellen und die Notwendigkeit einer Kombination von Festnetz- und Mobilnetzstichproben thematisieren." (Autorenreferat)

"'Virtuelle' Telefonnummern bestehen - wie auch herkömmliche Festnetznummern - aus einer Ortsvorwahl und der Rufnummer. In der Regel handelt es sich dabei jedoch um einen Mobilfunkanschluss, oft gekoppelt mit einem 'Home-Zone'-Tarif. Bei zufallsgenerierten Telefonstichproben finden sich vermehrt solche 'virtuellen' Nummern. Im Gegensatz zu normalen Festnetznummern wird der Umgang mit diesen zunehmend problematischer und es gilt Lösungen zu erarbeiten, wie 'virtuelle' Festnetznummern zukünftig bei Telefonumfragen behandelt werden sollen." (Autorenreferat)

"Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit einer derzeit noch wenig genutzten Datenerhebungsmethode für standardisierte Befragungen, die zukünftig aufgrund technischer Entwicklungen (neue Endgräte, schnellere Netze) und der verstärkten Nutzung des mobilen Internets durch Teile der Bevölkerung aber vermutlich vermehrt zum Einsatz kommen wird. Die Methode besteht in der selbst-administrierten Befragung mit Hilfe mobiler Endgeräte, wobei die aus den traditionellen telefonischen Befragungen im Festnetz weiterentwickelten Stichprobenverfahren für die Mobilfunknetze zur Anwendung kommen und auf eine selbst-administrierte Datenerhebung durch Online-Surveys gesetzt wird: Mit Hilfe der für die Mobilfunknetze entwickelten RDD-Stichprobenverfahren (vgl. z.B. Vehovar, Dolnicar & Lozar, 2005; Häder & Gabler, 2006; Buskirk & Callegaro, 2007) werden potenzielle Befragte ausgewählt. Diese erhalten eine Einladung zu einer Befragung mit Hilfe eines Intervieweranrufs, einer MMS oder einer SMS, in der die URL zur Befragung eingebettet ist. Die Befragten empfangen diese Einladung auf ihrem mobilen Endgerät (Handy und Mobile Digital Assistant - MDA), klicken auf die zugesendete URL und öffnen die speziell für den kleinen Bildschirm eines mobilen Endgeräts gestalteten Online-Fragebogen zu einem für sie passenden Zeitpunkt. Nachfassaktionen und Erinnerungen sowie Incentives sind analog zu telefonischen Befragungen im Mobilfunknetz möglich. Der nachfolgende Beitrag bietet noch keine systematische feldexperimentelle Evaluation dieser Befragungsmethode sondern diskutiert in einem vorläufigen Zugang potenzielle methodologische Implikationen. Im ersten Abschnitt (Kapitel 1) werden einige Probleme traditioneller Umfragemodes diskutiert, die den Einsatz mobiler Endgeräte für den Zugang zu den potenziellen Befragten nahe legen. Danach (Kapitel 2) werden Entwicklungen im Bereich der Mobilfunktechnik zusammengefasst, soweit sie für den Einsatz des Mobile Web Surveys relevant sind. Anschließend (Kapitel 3) folgt die Darstellung einer Demoanwendung, bevor (Kapitel 4) die Implikationen und Folgen dieser Datenerhebungsmethode unter Rekurs auf den Total Survey Error diskutiert werden. Abschließend wird ein Ausblick auf die Anwendungsmöglichkeiten und die methodische Begleitforschung gegeben (Kapitel 5)." (Autorenreferat)

Verbesserte und stark erweiterte Neufassung des Aufsatzes "Fehler, Verzerrungen, Unsicherheiten in der PISA-Auswertung" aus der 1. Auflage von 2006

"Seit 2003 ist die ausschließliche Ausstattung der Haushalte mit Festnetzanschlüssen in Deutschland rückläufig, während der Anteil der exklusiven Mobilfunknutzer steigt. Dieser Anteil wird derzeit auf sieben bis acht Prozent geschätzt (Gabler & Häder, 2005). Da diese Entwicklung sich in den nächsten Jahren beschleunigen wird, wird die Repräsentativität von Bevölkerungsumfragen, deren Ergebnisse nur über das Festnetz gewonnen werden, immer mehr infrage gestellt. Ausgehend von dieser Problematik beschäftigt sich das vorliegende Forschungsvorhaben mit der Möglichkeit, Telefonbefragungen in einer Kombination von Mobilfunk- und Festnetzanschlüssen durchzuführen und das entsprechende Design zu ergründen. Im Folgenden soll zunächst die Anlage des DFG-Projekts vorgestellt und das methodische Vorgehen erläutert werden. Im zweiten Teil werden die Ergebnisse aus der Vorstudie I (Pretest) sowie Vorstudie II präsentiert. Dabei stehen die Nutzungsgewohnheiten, die Erreichbarkeit von Handynutzern und die potentielle Teilnahmebereitschaft an Handyumfragen im Fokus der Betrachtungen. Abschließend wird ein Ausblick auf die Haupterhebung gegeben." (Autorenreferat)

"In etlichen europäischen Ländern ist die Mobiltelefonie weiter verbreitet als in Deutschland, vor allem die Zahl der nur mobil erreichbaren Personen liegt höher. Daher sind CATI-Designs entwickelt worden, die Festnetz und Mobilfunk vereinen. Vor diesem Hintergrund hat Ipsos im Jahre 2006 erstmals eine Festnetzstichprobe mit einer Mobilstichprobe nach dem Dual Frame Ansatz kombiniert. Die Ergebnisse sind sehr ermutigend." (Autorenreferat)