Deck 15: Data Collection Enhancing Response Rates While Limiting Errors

Question 1

A researcher investigating the consumption of sugar takes a random sample from the population and computes the mean sugar consumption. He repeats the procedure a number of times using the exact same procedure, and finds the means obtained vary from sample to sample. This is an example of

A) systematic error.
B) sampling error.
C) nonsampling error.
D) noncoverage error.
E) response error.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is TRUE?

A) Noncoverage, nonsampling error is best treated by increasing the sample size that is selected.
B) Noncoverage, nonsampling error is essentially a sampling frame problem and if clear, complete, up-to-date sampling frames exist, noncoverage is not likely to be a problem.
C) While noncoverage can be a source of bias, overcoverage is not. In fact, overcoverage may improve estimates as it means that the sample size is larger than initially planned at no increase in cost.
D) Noncoverage bias is essentially eliminated with quota samples.
E) Noncoverage error can be statistically estimated.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

A(n)______________is an estimate that involves a single value with no associated bounds of error.

A) nonresponse estimate.
B) point estimate
C) response estimate.
D) sampling estimate.
E) office error.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is FALSE?

A) It is not difficult to estimate the size and effects of nonsampling errors.
B) Reduction of nonsampling error depends on improving method.
C) Nonsampling errors are not as manageable as sampling errors.
D) Nonsampling errors arise from weaknesses in research procedure. They are likely to increase with increases in the sample size.
E) Nonsampling errors contribute more than sampling errors to total error in most surveys.

Question 5

Duplication in the list of sampling units results in

A) sampling error.
B) data collection error.
C) systematic error.
D) response error.
E) overcoverage error.

Question 6

Which of the following statement is TRUE about nonsampling errors?

A) They are as identifiable as sampling errors.
B) They decrease with sample size.
C) They may increase with sample size.
D) They are easy to estimate.
E) They have minimal impact on overall survey error.

Question 7

Failure to include some units, or entire sections, of the defined survey population in the actual operational sampling frame represents

A) noncoverage error.
B) nonresponse error.
C) sampling error.
D) random error.
E) observation error.

Question 8

The difference between the results obtained for a sample and the results we would have obtained had we gathered information from the entire population is (the)

A) nonresponse error.
B) nonsampling error.
C) sampling error.
D) noncoverage error.
E) office error.

Question 9

Which of the following is TRUE concerning sampling errors?

A) Sampling errors can be reduced by improving data collection methods.
B) The degree of sampling error can be estimated.
C) Sampling errors have been consistently shown to be the major contributor to total survey error.
D) Sampling errors are frequently the most important errors that arise in research.
E) It is difficult to estimate the size and effects of sampling errors.

Question 10

Increasing sample size______________but may also______________.

A) decreases sampling error, increase nonsampling error
B) has no influence on sampling error, increase nonsampling error
C) increases nonsampling error, increase sampling error
D) increases sampling error, increase nonsampling error
E) decreases nonsampling error, decrease sampling error

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT an example of a nonsampling error?

A) Using a telephone directory as a sampling frame.
B) Choosing a quota sample by strictly adhering to the response instructions.
C) Using a city map purchased in a gas station as the sampling frame.
D) Using state car title records as a sampling frame.
E) All of the above are examples of non-sampling errors.

Question 12

Which of these sampling frames is most likely to produce the largest noncoverage bias problem?

A) Declared marketing majors in the College of Business
B) The metropolitan area telephone book
C) A department store's charge account customers
D) Heads of households in the graduate student apartment complex
E) Clients of an insurance office

Question 13

An important consideration for assessing the overall quality of a data collection effort is the

A) bias rate.
B) response rate.
C) collection rate.
D) eligibility rate.
E) interview rate.

Question 14

The potential problem in any project for which data is not collected from ALL respondents selected for the sample______________is

A) nonresponse error.
B) overcoverage error.
C) response error.
D) sampling error.
E) office error.

Question 15

One difference between sampling and nonsampling errors is that as sample size increases, sampling errors will while nonsampling errors______________.

A) decrease, may even increase
B) increase, decrease
C) remain the same, may even increase
D) increase, remain the same
E) decrease, remain the same

Question 16

Sampling error is reflected in the

A) sampling distribution of the statistic.
B) contact rate.
C) eligibility requirement.
D) development of the sampling frame.
E) number of callbacks needed to complete the survey.

Question 17

The best way to reduce nonsampling errors is to

A) increase sample size.
B) improve data collection techniques.
C) offer incentives to respondents.
D) substitute the next house on the block for not-at-homes.
E) nonsampling errors cannot be reduced.

Question 18

Sampling errors can be decreased by

A) decreasing the number of observations.
B) increasing the sample size.
C) providing better training for interviewers.
D) improving the data collection method.
E) using a quota sample.

Question 19

Nonsampling errors occur because of errors in

A) conceptionalization of the response project.
B) reporting the results of a project.
C) arithmetic.
D) interpreting respondent replies.
E) All of the above are nonsampling errors.

Question 20

Which of the following is essentially a sampling frame problem?

A) Refusals
B) No one at home
C) Observation errors
D) Noncoverage errors
E) Designated respondent not at home when interviewer calls

Question 21

Higher response rates usually suggest

A) the sample size was too small.
B) interviewer cheating.
C) fewer problems with nonresponse bias.
D) poor questionnaire design.
E) lack of interest among respondents.

Question 22

Which of the following is TRUE?

A) The percentage of not-at-homes has been decreasing for a long time.
B) Answering machines help interviewers schedule callback times.
C) It is much easier to find a "responsible adult" at home than a specific respondent.
D) One to two calls are often needed to reach three-fourths of the sample of households.
E) To maintain consistency, callbacks should be made at the same time as the original call.

Question 23

The number provided by the calculation, "number of completed interviews" divided by the sum of "number of completed interviews" and "number of ineligibles" is called the

A) response rate.
B) eligibility percentage.
C) completeness percentage.
D) refusal ratio.
E) nonresponse rate.

Question 24

Which of the following is FALSE?

A) Noncoverage is a problem in mail and e-mail surveys.
B) For some studies, clear, convenient and complete sampling frames exist.
C) Overcoverage error poses a relatively common problem with sampling frames.
D) None of the above are false.
E) All of the above are false.

Question 25

A researcher wishes to have an indicator of the overall quality of a data collection effort. Which indicator should the researcher review?

A) Response rate
B) Contact rate
C) Eligibility percentage
D) Confidence interval
E) Sample size

Question 26

An interviewer finds that a subject is not at home; to complete his sample, he substitutes the nearest available subject for the missing subject. This practice is

A) reasonable and provides accurate results.
B) not recommended as it complicates the problems by increasing the proportion of at-homes in the sample.
C) recommended even though it increases the proportion of at-homes.
D) unreasonable although the results are generally accurate.
E) probably the best available technique for handling the not-at-home problem.

Question 27

Which of the following is FALSE?

A) The main sources of nonresponse bias are not-at-homes and refusals.
B) The type of incentive used to reduce nonresponse may create another potential bias.
C) Technological advancements have helped researchers overcome the not-at-home problem.
D) Using incentives to reduce the nonresponse rate may inflate response errors.
E) Not-at-homes and refusals are both sources of error in telephone surveys.

Question 28

For an online survey or mail survey for which everyone in the sample frame is qualified to respond, which of the following inputs is NOT needed to calculate the response rate?

A) Number of usable questionnaires
B) Number of contacts attempted
C) Eligibility percentage
D) Number of wrong addresses
E) All of the above are required.

Question 29

The error a researcher should work most to minimize is

A) response error.
B) total error.
C) sample error.
D) nonresponse error.
E) office error.

Question 30

During a recent telephone survey, the data collection effort produced the following results: completed interviews = 400; refusals = 200; not-at-home = 400 What is the response rate in this particular situation?

A) 67%
B) 44%
C) 100%
D) 40%
E) 50%

Question 31

The owner of Patty's Pizza Parlor wants to measure consumer awareness of the restaurant and uses the local telephone directory to draw a sample from which to survey the townspeople. However, some people do not have a telephone. This represents what type of problem?

A) Sampling error
B) Nonresponse error
C) Noncoverage error
D) Response error
E) Office error

Question 32

Noncoverage error is NOT a problem for which of the following sampling frames?

A) Phone book
B) Mailing list
C) Map
D) None of the above have a potential noncoverage problem.
E) All of the above potentially have a noncoverage problem.

Question 33

Common problems of using lists as sampling frames include

A) the list is not up-to-date.
B) ineligibles are included in the list.
C) duplicates are included in the list.
D) some members of the desired population are not on the list.
E) All of the above are common problems of using lists.

Question 34

A random sample of 5,000 households are selected for interviews with the following results: - 1,010 completed interviews
- 864 refusals by the respondent
- 3,126 no answer/not at home
The response rate is

A) 19%.
B) 20%.
C) 36%.
D) 38%.
E) 51%.

Question 35

Nonresponse error represents

A) a measure of the difference between the size of the population and the size of the sample.
B) the number of sampling units not contacted on the first attempt.
C) a random distribution of unanswered questions.
D) a failure to obtain information from sampling units.
E) a uniform distribution of uncontacted respondents.

Question 36

Nonsampling error includes all of the following EXCEPT

A) Noncoverage error.
B) Office error.
C) Response error.
D) Quota error.
E) Nonresponse error.

Question 37

Which of these contributes to the nonresponse bias in a telephone survey?

A) 1, 2
B) 1, 2, 3
C) 3, 4
D) 2, 4
E) 1, 2, 3, 4

Question 38

Which of the following are most likely to be home when an interviewer calls during a weekday?

A) Married women without children
B) Single women
C) Married men
D) Married women with young children
E) Single men

Question 39

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) For most surveys, overcoverage is more common than noncoverage.
B) Noncoverage error is not a problem in every survey.
C) Noncoverage bias can be reduced by increasing the sample size.
D) Families with several phone listings have a lower probability of being included in the sample than do sampling units with one listing.
E) All of the above statements are false.

Question 40

Which of the following is FALSE?

A) Nonresponse error is a potential problem in any project for which data are not collected from all respondents selected for the sample.
B) Nonresponse error only occurs when those who respond are systematically different from those who do not respond in some important way.
C) Refusal bias applies to projects using all forms of data collection.
D) The degree of nonresponse error is easy to assess.
E) All of the above statements are true.

Question 41

Student researchers collected data on name awareness of a local store. The researchers found that three-fourths of the people who refused to respond were members of the Greek system. If the Greek students who refused to participate in the survey were truly different on some key dimension from those who actually responded to the______________survey,______________error could bias the research results.

A) observation
B) sampling
C) response
D) nonresponse
E) noncoverage

Question 42

Which of the following has NOT been shown to be effective in decreasing the number of refusals?

A) The use of incentives
B) Selling the respondent on the value of the research
C) Use of experienced interviewers
D) Guarantees of anonymity
E) All of the above have been shown to be effective.

Question 43

Refer to Scenario 17.1. What is eligibility percentage in this particular situation?

A) 69%
B) 31%
C) 28%
D) 41%
E) 59%

Question 44

Which method of data collection has traditionally produced the lowest response rates?

A) Personal interviews in homes
B) Telephone surveys
C) Mail surveys
D) Personal interviews in shopping malls
E) All of the above produce roughly equivalent response rates.

Question 45

The respondent's cooperation will NOT be encouraged by

A) selling the respondent on the value of the research.
B) choosing an appropriate interviewer.
C) training the interviewer properly.
D) guaranteeing that the replies will be confidential.
E) asking sensitive questions.

Question 46

An interviewer is assigned to interview 123 households. A total of 52 interviews are completed, with 19 of the household determined to be ineligible. What is the eligibility percentage for this project?

A) 73%
B) 87%
C) 37%
D) 42%
E) Cannot be determined from the information given.

Question 47

The primary way to control for the potential bias due to interviewer's attitudes, opinions, perceptions, etc., is through

A) matching the backgrounds of the interviewer and interviewee.
B) training the interviewer.
C) recruiting interviewers with similar socioeconomic backgrounds.
D) conducting the survey using a rigid set of procedures which the interviewers must follow.
E) requiring the interviewer to complete the questionnaire so that it can be determined if there is a pattern between the interviewer's answers and the answers he or she secures when administering the questionnaire.

Question 48

The refusal problem is the main source of nonresponse bias for a(n)

A) interview.
B) completely randomized experimental design.
C) mail survey.
D) field study.
E) panel.

Question 49

Research evidence supports the contention that

A) gender of respondents and interviewers does NOT influence the answers in a survey.
B) black interviewers are likely to obtain more information on consumption expenditures in a predominantly white neighborhood.
C) it is better to have an old interviewer interview a young respondent and vice versa so as to keep the interview from wandering off the intended topic into areas of mutual interest.
D) the further the social distance between the interviewer and the respondent the greater the bias.
E) background factors of interviewer and interviewee do NOT generally influence the information obtained.

Question 50

The empirical evidence suggests which of the following does NOT affect the refusal rate?

A) Nature of the respondent
B) Sponsor of the research
C) Nature of the subject
D) Circumstances surrounding the contact
E) All of the above affect the refusal rate.

Question 51

Which of the following statements concerning response errors is FALSE?

A) Respondents who understand a question may not always provide a truthful answer to the question.
B) It is possible that a respondent may understand a question correctly but not actually know the answer to the question.
C) Providing a "don't know" response category will often create difficulties in data analysis.
D) Pre-testing the questionnaire with members of the relevant population is generally not effective at eliminating problems due to respondents misunderstanding questionnaire items.
E) All of the above statements are true.

Question 52

An accounting firm decided to conduct a survey among its past clients. A sample of 500 clients was randomly selected to receive a mail survey. A total of 175 clients responded to the survey; 30 of the mailing addresses were not valid. The response rate on the project would be correctly calculated as

A) 85%.
B) 65%.
C) 37%.
D) 35%.
E) 17%.

Question 53

Refer to Scenario 17.1. What is the response rate in this particular situation?

A) 80%
B) 73%
C) 70%
D) 62%
E) 41%

Question 54

The factor that probably has the biggest impact on response rate is

A) survey length.
B) sample pool interest in the survey topic.
C) guarantee of confidentiality or anonymity.
D) interviewer characteristics or training.
E) response incentives.

Question 55

Which of the following does NOT lead to response bias?

A) Errors in asking questions
B) Errors in recording answers
C) Errors in probing when additional information is required
D) Errors due to cheating
E) A poorly specified sampling frame

Question 56

Which of the following is FALSE?

A) New sources of nonsampling error are being discovered all the time.
B) A large sample is much more likely to produce a "valid" result than a small sample is.
C) Total error, rather than any single type of error, is the key in a research investigation.
D) Sampling error can be estimated.
E) Nonsampling error is usually more troublesome than sampling error.

Question 57

Which of the following is TRUE?

A) It is generally true that bias caused by interviewer expectations will balance out if a sufficiently large number of interviews is used.
B) The behavior of either interviewer or respondent occurs merely as a physical reaction to the behavior of the other.
C) Questions which state the alternative answers and multiple choice questions are particularly recommended in studies where personal interviews are used because they are not subject to interviewer bias.
D) The empirical evidence suggests that an interviewer with strong positive attitudes toward a particular issue will tend to secure more favorable responses than an interviewer with strong negative attitudes.
E) All of the above statements are true.

Question 58

The______________is used to adjust the number of refusals and not-at-homes to reflect the fact that many of them would not have qualified to participate in the survey even had we successfully contacted them and gotten them to agree to participate.

A) eligibility percentage
B) screening question
C) contact rate
D) response rate
E) None of the above.

Question 59

To identify whether potential respondents meet eligibility requirements, an interviewer will typically use a(n)

A) eligibility percentage.
B) leading question.
C) loaded question.
D) screening question.
E) alternative questionnaire.

Question 60

The response rate formula for a telephone survey where there is no eligibility requirement excludes

A) refusals.
B) wrong numbers.
C) not-at-homes.
D) completed interviews.
E) All of the above are included in the response rate formula for a telephone survey where there is no eligibility requirement.

Question 61

Sampling errors are the least manageable of all types of errors.

Question 62

Errors introduced into the study during data processing are

A) Type I errors.
B) nonobservation errors.
C) sampling errors.
D) total errors.
E) office errors.

Question 63

Office errors can be reduced or eliminated by exercising proper controls in data processing.

Question 64

Lower response rates generally suggest fewer problems with nonresponse bias.

Question 65

In terms of error in research investigations, the key is

A) total error.
B) sampling error.
C) nonresponse error.
D) systematic error.
E) observation error.

Question 66

Which of the following is FALSE?

A) The empirical evidence suggests that an interviewer's own opinions on a subject affect the responses he or she receives and that in particular, these responses are likely to be opposite his or her opinions.
B) Interviewers must quickly convince potential respondents of the value of the research and the importance of their participation.
C) In general, evidence indicates that the more characteristics the interviewer and the respondent have in common, the greater the probability of a successful interview.
D) Both the interviewer and interviewee bring certain background characteristics to the interview that can affect the interview process.
E) Both the interviewer and interviewee bring psychological predispositions to the interview that can affect the interview process.

Question 67

Which of the following leads to response bias?

A) Errors in asking questions
B) Errors in recording answers
C) Errors in probing when additional information is required
D) Errors due to cheating
E) All of the above.

Question 68

Interviewers can make errors in asking any type of question; however, it is a particular problem with which of the following?

A) Multiple-choice questions
B) Dichotomous questions
C) Scale type of questions
D) Open-ended questions
E) Structured questions

Question 69

In a mail survey, 500 questionnaires were sent out but only 200 were returned.

A) This survey has random sampling error.
B) This survey has a response bias.
C) This survey has nonresponse error.
D) This survey suffers from deliberate falsification.
E) None of the above.

Question 70

Random nonsampling errors tend to cancel each other out.

Question 71

Not-at-home nonresponse bias is most affected by sample size.

Question 72

The lower the response rate, the

A) more likely it is that response error will affect research results.
B) less likely it is that response error will affect research results.
C) more likely it is that noncoverage error will affect research results.
D) less likely it is that nonresponse error will affect research results.
E) more likely it is that nonresponse error will affect research results.

Question 73

Which of the following are office errors?

A) Not-at-homes
B) Refusals
C) Interviewer cheating
D) Coding
E) Response errors

Question 74

Duplication in the list of sampling units results in sampling error.

Question 75

______________ error arises because of a failure to include some part of the defined population in the sampling frame.

Question 76

Noncoverage error arises because of a failure to include some part of the defined population in the sampling frame.

Question 77

Noncoverage error is essentially a sampling frame problem.

Question 78

The obvious approach to reducing the effect of noncoverage bias is to improve the quality of the _ .

Question 79

Blame for response errors can lay with the researcher, respondent or both.

Question 80

Nonresponse error represents a failure to obtain information from some elements of the population that were selected and designated for the sample.