Suchergebnisse

Asking respondents sensitive questions directly may lead to socially desirable responding. As alternative, some have proposed using the Item Count Technique (ICT). The problem with ICT methods is that these can have low statistical efficiency, but also do not provide an indicator of the behavior at the respondent level. We propose a new variant of the ICT to overcome these issues: the Longitudinal Item Count Technique (LICT). Instead of administering different lists (one including the sensitive item and one without) to two random groups in a single survey, the LICT administers both lists to each respondent, but at different survey waves. The sensitive attribute can be estimated as the difference within individuals across waves. Like the ICT, the LICT can be extended to a two-list version. In this paper we discuss the assumptions, implementation, limitations, and ethical implications of this novel technique, and present application of the method in the Understanding Society Innovation Panel, estimating the prevalence of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual population in the United Kingdom. In this first application, the LICT in some ways appeared to provide better estimates than the traditional ICT, but also provided some inconsistency in estimates. We discuss the implications of these results and point to routes for further research.

Abstract
When surveying immigrant populations or ethnic minority groups, it is important for survey researchers to consider that respondents might vary in their level of language proficiency. While survey translations might be offered, they are usually available for a limited number of languages, and even then, non-native speakers may not utilize questionnaires translated into their native language. This article examines the impact of language proficiency among respondents interviewed in English on survey data quality. We use data from Understanding Society: The United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) to examine five indicators of data quality, including "don't know" responding, primacy effects, straightlining in grids, nonresponse to a self-completion survey component, and change in response across survey waves. Respondents were asked whether they are native speakers of English; non-native speakers were subsequently asked to self-rate whether they have any difficulties speaking or reading English. Results suggest that non-native speakers provide lower data quality for four of the five quality indicators we examined. We find that non-native respondents have higher nonresponse rates to the self-completion section and are more likely to report change across waves, select the primary response option, and show straightlining response behavior in grids. Furthermore, primacy effects and nonresponse rates to the self-completion section vary by self-rated level of language proficiency. No significant effects were found with regard to "don't know" responding between native and non-native speakers.

Linking survey responses with administrative data is a promising practice to increase the range of research questions to be explored, at a limited interview burden, both for respondents and interviewers. We describe the protocol for asking consent to data linkage on nine different sources in a large-scale nationally representative longitudinal survey of young adults in England: the Next Steps Age 25 Survey. We present empirical evidence on consent to data linkage from qualitative interviews, a pilot study, and the mainstage survey. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that discusses the practicalities of implementing a data linkage protocol asking consent both retrospectively and prospectively, on multiple domains, and in the context of a mixed-mode survey.