Currently, travel surveys are the standard method for measuring mobility in official statistics. Nonresponse and measurement are problematic in travel surveys, due to the high burden and non-centrality of the requested information. To overcome these …
My breaks between posts are getting longer and longer. Sorry my dear readers. Today, I am writing about research done over a year ago that I did with Vera Toepoel and Alerk Amin. Our study was about a group of respondents we can no longer ignore: Mobile-only web survey respondents. These are people, who do no longer use a laptop or desktop PC and use their smartphone for most or any of their Internet browsing, but instead use a smartphone.
Studies into the correlates of nonresponse often have to rely on socio-demographic variables to study whether respondents and nonrespondents in surveys differ. Often there is no other information available on sampling frames that researchers can use.
That is unfortunate, for two reasons. First, the variables we are currently using to predict nonrespons, usually explain a very limited amount of variance of survey nonresponse. Therefore, these variables are also not effective correctors for nonresponse.
Gerry Nicolaas (of Natcen) has just written a good review on the nonresponse workshop we both attended this year. See http://natcenblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/challenges-to-current-practice-of.html#comment-form The Nonresponse Workshops are a great place to meet and discuss with survey researchers in a small setting. The next workshop is to be held early september 2012 at Statistics Canada. See www.nonresponse.org