Improving Surveys with Paradata: Analytic Uses of Process Information

CHAPTER 5

PARADATA FOR COVERAGE RESEARCH

STEPHANIE ECKMAN

Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg

5.1 INTRODUCTION

Coverage research involves studying the quality of the frames from which samples are selected, and the impacts of errors in frames on survey data. Coverage is an understudied area in the survey methodology literature, due in large part to the difficulty of obtaining the necessary data about errors on the frame. Fortunately, paradata can in many cases provide the missing data needed to study coverage. This chapter first provides an introduction to frame and coverage error and then explores how paradata can be used to study coverage in household surveys. It discusses several types of frames, and the studies related to each type that have made use of paradata. The chapter also suggests additional coverage research that could be done with paradata.

The list from which we select a sample for a survey is called a frame. The population we wish to reach and represent with the survey is called the target population. In the ideal situation, the frame contains one and only one entry for each of the units in the target population. For example, a professional organization might want to conduct a survey of its members, and it has a complete and up-to-date list of all of the members from which it can select a sample. The list of members is the frame and the members themselves are the target population for the survey. If all members are on the list and the list contains ...