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Multimode data collection has emerged as a common approach for conducting household surveys in the United States. A number of different data collection schemes have been investigated, with an emphasis on collecting as many respondents by the Web prior to going to paper data collection to reduce costs. Despite this, little research has been conducted on the approaches to weighting data from multimode surveys. The typical approach assumes that all respondents should be treated the same regardless of mode even though it is well known that the response patterns by mode vary substantially. We examine an adaptive mode adjustment to address these differences and propose an imbalance measure to help determine the adjustment factor using ideas from responsive design. We then compare the effects of the alternative weighting method in two recent sequential mixed-mode surveys and show it appears to reduce bias while only slightly increasing variances of the estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies new opportunities for innovation and expansion on current survey practice in the design of a new household panel survey, including an increased use of new and mobile technologies, more frequent data collection, modified clustering, and use of non-traditional survey measures such as administrative data, planned missing/matrix sampling questionnaire design, real-time data collection, and biomarkers. These innovative data collection methods require rethinking traditional panel survey methods, but can help reduce respondent burden and expand on current social science knowledge. The paper concludes that a new household panel survey would improve knowledge about important social, economic and health issues facing the US, and would provide a useful test bed for new hypotheses and innovative methods of data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates methods to improve response rates from Spanish speakers in two-phase mail surveys of the U.S. population. Many surveys are subject to nonresponse bias and under-represent the 20 percent of households that speak a language other than English at home. In the United States, Spanish speakers comprise 60 percent of the persons who speak some language other than English at home. A set of language treatment experiments was designed to improve response rates from Spanish speakers, and these were implemented in the 2011 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) Field Test. The language experiments included treatments that varied the languages used in the materials (both English and Spanish, or English only), whether the materials in both languages were mailed in all mailings or just in the follow-up, the way the instruments presented the language alternatives, and whether the language efforts were targeted at certain addresses or sent to all households. The findings show that sending survey materials to all sampled households in both languages substantially increased participation from Spanish-speaking households and did not jeopardize responses from monolingual English households. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The twentieth century saw a dramatic change in the way information was generated as probability sampling replaced full enumeration. We examine some key events of the past and issues being addressed today to gain perspective on the requirements that might steer changes in the direction of survey sampling in the future. The potential for online Web panels and other methods that do not use probability sampling are considered. Finally, we conclude with some thoughts on how the future of survey sampling might be shaped by unpredictable factors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, we describe the use of address-based sampling (ABS) for conducting a mail survey of a subgroup. Although ABS has been investigated as an alternative household sampling frame, its use for sampling subgroups is limited. Some researchers have used ABS to select households but then recruit households by telephone to the extent possible to screen for members of the subgroup. The approach we describe uses a two-phase methodology with mail as the primary mode of recruitment and data collection for all households. Facing declining response and coverage rates in its landline RDD surveys, the National Household Education Surveys (NHES) program embarked on a redesign effort. The two-phase ABS design using mail as the primary mode of data collection was chosen for the NHES:2009 Pilot Study. In the first phase, all sampled households were mailed a screener that identified members of the eligible subgroup (children) and provided the data needed for sampling among them. A second-phase substantive questionnaire was mailed to the sampled members of the subgroup. This use of the ABS and mail as the primary mode of data collection is new and largely untested. The findings from the NHES Pilot Study revealed that this approach is a feasible alternative for surveying targeted subgroups. Although the methods must undergo more robust and rigorous tests, it is an approach that may be able to fill some of the void created by the low response and coverage rates that afflict RDD surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a report published by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) which reviews empirical information related to the opt-in online discussion panels used for data collection on public opinion. The Opt-In Online Panel Task Force established by the AAPOR executive council in September 2008 is mentioned. Methods used to recruit online panelists are reviewed. The author comments on the difficulties related to gathering data online in spite of the number of adults in the U.S. that do not use the Internet on a regular basis. Methods used to reduce bias in public opinion research are also discussed.

Objective. Examine the effect of including cell-phone numbers in a traditional landline random digit dial (RDD) telephone survey. Data Sources. The 2007 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). Data Collection Methods. CHIS 2007 is an RDD telephone survey supplementing a landline sample in California with a sample of cell-only (CO) adults. Study Design. We examined the degree of bias due to exclusion of CO populations and compared a series of demographic and health-related characteristics by telephone usage. Principal Findings. When adjusted for noncoverage in the landline sample through weighting, the potential noncoverage bias due to excluding CO adults in landline telephone surveys is diminished. Both CO adults and adults who have both landline and cell phones but mostly use cell phones appear different from other telephone usage groups. Controlling for demographic differences did not attenuate the significant distinctiveness of cell-mostly adults. Conclusions. While careful weighting can mitigate noncoverage bias in landline telephone surveys, the rapid growth of cell-phone population and their distinctive characteristics suggest it is important to include a cell-phone sample. Moreover, the threat of noncoverage bias in telephone health survey estimates could mislead policy makers with possibly serious consequences for their ability to address important health policy issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes several features included in a California Health Interview Survey cell phone pilot study that differ from earlier cell phone surveys conducted in the United States. One difference is that the study used a screening design and only adults living in cell-only households were interviewed. Most of the previous studies used dual frame designs. Another difference was the development and implementation of a within-household adult sampling procedure to cover adults when cell phones were shared in the household. The study was also intended to determine if conducting a cell phone interview of the same scope and length as a regular telephone interview was feasible. Most previous surveys were focused on cell phone topics and were shorter than the comparable landline surveys. We then explore some interesting problems that arise in weighting a cell phone survey using a screening design. We conclude with a discussion of planning a new cell phone survey in 2007 that incorporates findings from this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warren Mitofsky and Joseph Waksberg were two of the most influential researchers in telephone surveys and survey research methods. Their development of the Mitofsky-Waksberg method for random digit dialing sampling revolutionized telephone sampling and surveys. Jointly and separately, Waksberg and Mitofsky were instrumental in the development of many innovative methods and applications. This article reviews some of their contributions and discusses how their approaches to these problems may be a model for addressing issues that are being encountered currently in the United States in cell phone research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a dual frame survey of landline and cell phone numbers in 2004 to evaluate the feasibility of including cell phone numbers in random digit dial telephone surveys in the United States. By sampling cell phone numbers, the coverage bias associated with households that have only cell phones is eliminated. However, we discovered two major sources of nonresponse bias in the dual frame sample. In an attempt to reduce these biases, we applied several different estimation schemes. But a comparison to the 2004 Current Population Survey Cell Phone Supplement showed that none of the estimation schemes substantially reduced the nonresponse bias of the estimates. We suggest other methods that might be used in future surveys that include cell phones and discuss the need for additional data collection and research on this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The method for estimating residency rates in random digit dial (RDD) telephone surveys is important for computing response rates. This article reviews existing methods of estimating residency rates and introduces a new "survival" method that takes advantage of more information to provide improved estimates. Examples of applying this to large RDD samples are given along with suggestions for use of the method in other surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Children's Study is a national household probability sample designed to identify 100,000 children at birth and follow the sampled children for 21 years. Data from the study will support examining numerous hypotheses concerning genetic and environmental effects on the health and development of children. The goals of the study present substantial challenges. For example, the need for preconception, prenatal, and postnatal data requires identifying women in the early stages of pregnancy, the collection of many types of data, and the retention of the children over time. In this paper, we give an overview of the sample design used in a pilot study called the Vanguard Study, and highlight the approaches used to address these challenges. We will also describe the rationale for the sampling choices made at each stage, the unique organizational structure of the NCS and issues we expect to face during implementation., (Published in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)