Handling Nonresponse in Sample Surveys
Venue: Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, UK
Presenter: Prof Jelke Bethlehem, Dr Fannie Cobben,
Dates of Course: Monday 5th - Tuesday 6th March 2012
This course has already run. Please check the course listings for a future course.
Summary of Course:
Response rates in many surveys have been falling and the resulting damage to data quality may have serious consequences for data analyses. This course addresses the problem of unit-nonresponse in sample surveys which occurs when individuals fail to participate in a survey, for example because of refusal or non-contact. The course introduces the main ideas and approaches to analyse and to address the problem, either by reducing nonresponse at the data collection stage or by using statistical methods for compensating for the effects of nonresponse at the data analysis stage (in particular using weighting methods). (The course will not focus on item non-response which occurs when sample members take part in the sample but fail to answer some of the survey questions.)
Course Objectives:
- To provide participants with an understanding of the types and sources of non-response in social surveys and their consequences for survey data analysis
- To familiarise participants with research on sources and patterns of non-response and on the impact of alternative strategies to reduce non-response and/or to compensate for non-response
- To instruct participants in methods for reducing non-response at the data collection stage
- To instruct participants in statistical methods for compensating for the effects of non-response at the data analysis stage
- To illustrate the most common methods on nonresponse analysis and adjustment on several case studies, including the illustration of more recent advances in the field.
Course Content:
This course will include the following topics:
- Types of non-response
- Factors which affect non-response
- Specification of statistical models to investigate the problem of nonresponse; modelling approaches to non-response (including questions about selection of auxiliary variables etc)
- Methods for reducing non-response (prior to data collection)
- Weighting methods to compensate for unit non-response
- Other nonresponse correction techniques (e.g. Call-Back approach, basic question approach, Heckman approach)
The course will have a strong practical emphasis, with regular workshop sessions to enable participants to work through examples. The course will use the statistical software R; however, participants are not expected to be familiar with this software. Most procedures will be already programmed in R and help for particiopants new to R will be provided.
(Please note: the course will not discuss imputation methods to compensate for item-nonresponse.)
Target Audience:
The course is aimed at both researchers who design surveys and wish to reduce non-response and at researchers who analyse survey data and wish to compensate for the effects of non-response. Participants may be researchers in the social sciences or may work in government, survey agencies, official statistics or the private sector. The course is suitable for statisticians or for social scientists who have a basic familiarity with statistical ideas of estimation in surveys.
Pre-requisite:
Participants are expected to have a basic knowledge of simple statistical methods (including confidence intervals, testing and estimation; ideally also chi-square test and logistic regression). The course will have a strong practical emphasis, with regular sessions on computers, using real survey data, to enable participants to work through examples. The computer workshops will be using R and some familiarity with the software will be an advantage but not a requirement. (For course participants new to the package an exercise sheet will be provided prior to the course to enable them to work through examples.)
Please bring a calculator for the workshops as well as a USB memory stick in case you would like to save your computer workshop output.
Course Materials:
Participants will receive written course notes.
Participants are advised that the presenters of the course have published the following book on the nonresponse topic:
- Bethlehem, J., Cobben, F. and Schouten, B. (2011): Handbook of Nonresponse in Household Surveys, John Wiley and Sons.
Although participants will receive all relevent course material in a course folder, they may find it useful to purchase the book in advanced of the course and bring it with them.
The Instructors:
Jelke Bethlehem is Professor and Senior Advisor of the Department of Statistical Methods of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Netherlands. He has been the principal investigator of a number of research projects in the area of survey methodology and nonresponse. Jelke has extensive experience in analysis of nonresponse, treatment of nonresponse in sample surveys, including weighting, disclosure control of published survey data and computer-assisted interviewing. He is one of the authors of the 'Handbook of Nonresponse in Household Surveys, 2011, published by Wiley. Since 2005 he has been the Vice-President of the International Association of Survey Statisticians (IASS). He was a member of the editorial panel of the Royal Statistical Society Series A and has published widely in a number of journals and books in survey methodology. He has developed and presented various short courses in survey methodology and nonresponse in sample surveys, including for Eurostat.
Fannie Cobben is a Methodologist at the department of Methodology and Quality at Statistics Netherlands. She is specialized in adjustment methods for nonresponse in sample surveys. Her main interests are nonresponse in mixed mode surveys and the R-indicator as a measure for the representativity of the response to a survey. She is one of the authors of the 'Handbook of Nonresponse in Household Surveys, 2011, published by Wiley. She coordinated the International Workshop on Household Survey Nonresponse together with her colleague Barry Schouten for three years. She has developed and presented various short courses in nonresponse in sample surveys, including for Eurostat. She has a PhD in survey methods with focus on nonresponse in sample surveys.
Course Fee:
£30 per day for UK-registered students. £60 per day for staff from UK academic institutions (including research centres), ESRC funded researchers and UK registered charitable organisations. £220 per day for all other participants. The course fee includes course materials, lunches and morning and afternoon refreshments. Travel and accommodation are to be arranged and paid for by the participant.
Location and Accommodation:
The course will be held at the Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, Building 39, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ. Participants are left to book their own accommodation according to individual needs. Further information on both location and accommodation can be found here.
Duration:
This is a 2 day course. The course will begin at 10.00 on the first day (with registration and coffee from 9.30) and will end at about 17.00. On the 2nd day the course will begin at 09.00 and formal teaching will finish at about 15.00 with a question session for course participants until about 16.00. In this question session course participants can discuss their own data and statistical problems on nonresponse with the presenters.
Preparatory Reading:
For those not so familiar with basic statistical methods some preparatory reading of standard text books is recommended.
For those who would like to do preparatory reading regarding nonresponse the following references may be useful. Please note that this reading is optional and it will not be assumed that participants have done this preparatory reading.
- Bethlehem, J., Cobben, F. and Schouten, B. (2011): Handbook of Nonresponse in Household Surveys, John Wiley and Sons.
- Groves, R.M. and Couper, M.P. (1998): Non-response in Household Interview Surveys, New York: Wiley.
- Särndal, C.E. and Lundström, S. (2005) Estimation in Surveys with Nonresponse, New York: Wiley.
- Bethlehem, J.G. (2002) Weighting Nonresponse Adjustments Based on Auxiliary Information, in: Groves, R.M., Dillman, D.A., Eltinge, J.L. and Little, R.J.A. (Eds): Survey Nonresponse, Wiley, New York.
- Groves, R.M., Dillman, D.A., Eltinge, J.L. and Little, R.J.A. (Eds) (2002): Survey Nonresponse, Wiley, New York.
Deadlines and Refunds:
Course places are limited and early registration is recommended. Please be aware that we will only hold a place without payment for a limited time.
Online registration and payment is strongly encouraged.
A Purchase Order is required for Invoice payments. A copy of the Purchase Order must be emailed, faxed or posted to the CASS Administration Assistant. If you have registered online please ensure that the Purchase Order number is included at the time of registration and that you email, fax or post a copy of the Purchase Order. We are unable to process an Invoice payment without a Purchase Order.
A refund is available for cancellations made up to one calendar month before the course, but no refunds are available for cancellations after this date. Please note, in case of a cancellation, an administration charge of £30 will apply.