Representing the Populations. What General Social Surveys Can Learn From Surveys Among Specific Groups. Ineke Stoop

Transcription

1 Representing the Populations What General Social Surveys Can Learn From Surveys Among Specific Groups Ineke Stoop

2 Content General cross-national survey Representative for the populations? Exclusion mechanisms Us and them Surveying minority groups Including/excluding minority groups in general social surveys

3 General cross-national survey

4 Aims ESS To monitor and interpret public attitudes and values within Europe and to investigate how they interact with Europe s changing institutions To advance and consolidate improved methods of crossnational survey measurement in Europe and beyond INGRID Bremen April 2014

5 ESS top data user countries (>100) (March 2014) (N=68,204) Germany Belgium UK Netherlands Slovenia Norway US Spain Poland Italy France Switzerland Denmark Austria Portugal Finland Sweden Ireland Hungary Russian Estonia Greece Ukraine Israel Czech Romania Turkey Canada Lithuania Slovakia Bulgaria Philippines Latvia Australia China Cyprus Iceland Croatia Japan Korea, Republic of Iran Luxembourg INGRID Bremen April 2014

6 Input harmonisation Target population definition National situation Sampling approach Sampling frames Survey mode Capi/Papi Data collection procedures National survey traditions Target response rates Achieved response rates High quality Optimal comparability INGRID Bremen April 2014

7 Including all groups in all countries Face-to-face interviewing Differences interviewer position, remuneration, experience Random sampling Optimal national sampling frame Effective sample size N=1500 High coverage Translation +5% language minorities Exclusion non-residential population Exclusion far away areas (Caribbean islands) Nonresponse High target response rates: 70% Specification of efforts, guidelines INGRID Bremen April 2014

8 Response rates ESS (selection all rounds) INGRID Bremen April 2014

9 Representing the populations? Exclusion mechanisms INGRID Bremen April 2014

10 Exclusion, noncoverage, nonresponse, cultural bias Sampling differences Homeless Illegal aliens Opt-out register Small language minority groups No on-the-fly translation Non-residential population No upper age limit Cross-national differences Not able due to mental or physical incapability Survey mode Cultural background How important is it that immigrants have a Christian background?

11 Us and them

12 Us and them Object = subject Gay studies Women studies African-American Studies Object subject Elderly Children Truck drivers Minority (ethnic) groups Survey among majority only? Why are we interested in minorities? How can we obtain knowledge on minorities?

13 Surveying minority groups

14 Are minorities minor/less? Fewer? Visible? Need help? Problems? Less capabilities Less money, networks? Outsiders? Inferior? Less power? Danger, threat? Assimilate?

15 Minorities as the others How to reach them? At home patterns Housing conditions Can they participate? Language Do they want to cooperate? Our attitude towards minorities Their attitude towards authorities/survey sponsor Relevance questionnaire? Tolerance towards minorities (from minorities)

16 Western migrants countries in Europe (excluding Turkey) North-America Oceania Indonesia Japan Non-Western migrants Africa Latin-American Asia (excluding Indonesia and Japan) Turkey

17 General population Subgroups Minority group Precision and bias Comparing groups Specific survey

18 1. General population Complete population Unemployment Health Political efficacy Social participation General population Survey problem No identification necessary, as long as they take part Precision: dependent on group size Bias: Survey participation related to output variable (through subgroup membership)

19 2. General population: subgroups Distinctions Socio-demographic groups, deviant groups, analysis Survey problems In surveys, registrations Have to be identified Comparing groups Standardised design Subgroups

20 3. Specific group Target groups Specific topics Adapted questionnaire Minority group Survey problems Sampling frame Cooperation Language Culture Measurement issues

21 Including minorities in general cross-national surveys

22 Cons Efforts to include groups that are not going to respond Questionnaire not relevant Costs Small effect on final results Responsibility respondent Pros Completeness Data quality Cross-national comparability Reporting on small subgroups Fairness Responsibility statistician, researcher

23 Survey inclusion The NHS covers all persons who usually live in Canada, in the provinces and the territories. People have a genuine right to be heard. That includes to be heard by social surveys. Excluding persons from the target population thus needs transparent and well defined rules. The lead rule is: all persons who can freely express their will to participate in a social survey and who can freely determine the time and place of an interview form the target population. Specific rules might apply depending on the topic and scope of a survey (age, work situation, etc.). Target population definitions are dynamic as are sampling frames because social settings of respondents live. For instance, in the past hospitals or homes for the elderly had prison-like restrictions of access. Today, in modern hospitals patients can meet whomever they want to without asking for permission. The same applies to homes for the elderly (actually, that is the case for all cell phone surveys already); military personnel today is in many countries not drafted but hired.

24 Thank you for your attention