Exploring targeted incentives to improve response in under-represented groups on the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey
Event
The Relationship Between Measurement Error, Representation Bias, Language, and Country: A Comparative Analysis Using the European Social Survey
This event is organised as part of the ongoing City St Georges, ESS and NatCen webinar series
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Survey researchers recognize that total survey error consists of multiple components, broadly pertaining to error sources and biases along the measurement process on the one hand and to representation on the other.
However, the relationship between these different error sources remains less well understood.
Drawing on 1,452 estimates of measurement error from large-scale MTMM experiments in the European Social Survey, covering 24 countries and 21 languages, we investigate the relationship between measurement error, representation bias, country, and language.
Our findings indicate a positive association between measurement error and representation bias.
Measurement error is very similar across languages within the same country, but shows some more variation between countries for the same language.
We conclude that the highly professional questionnaire translation process in the ESS effectively minimizes the impact of language differences on measurement error, while cultural differences and variations in sample composition continue to play a crucial role in contributing to measurement error.
Speakers
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Barbara FeldererBarbara Felderer is a senior survey methodologist and head of team Survey Statistics at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. She is an expert in nonresponse bias in surveys, and in the design and evaluation of experiments on participation behavior, including mixed-mode, incentive studies and cost implications.
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Lydia RepkeLydia Repke is a social scientist leading the Survey Quality Predictor (SQP) project and heading the Scale Development and Documentation team at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. Her research focuses on survey measurement quality, questionnaire design, network analysis, and substantive topics, such as multiculturalism and psychological well-being.
