The 2015 AAPOR Conference in Hollywood, Florida is almost here! NRC Vice President Michelle Kobayashi will be presenting a session on the future of opt-in surveys and how to most effectively put them to work. We are looking forward to learning about the latest in public opinion research and catching up with our friends and colleagues.
Can Surveys Posted on Government Websites Give Fair Representations of Public Opinion?
Date: Saturday, May 16
Time: 10:00 - 11:30 am
Location: Regency Ballroom 2
Description: Non probability samples are in unrelenting ascendance among data collection designs no less so among local governments where questions are posted on websites with the intention of learning what the public thinks about important community issues. Socio-demographic weighting alone has failed to improve sufficiently the match of opt-in results with results from probability samples so the ability to generalize findings to the entire community is suspect. Using matched pairs of mail probability samples and opt-in surveys in eleven U.S. communities, National Research Center, Inc. examines a variety of weighting variables and techniques to compare results and determine if opt-in surveys can be substituted for probability samples when asking residents about the quality of community life, service delivery or public trust. Comparisons are made of unweighted data and post-stratification weighted data using resident socio-demographics augmented by then including behaviors related to civic engagement using voter turnout and area-specific responses to the Census’s Current Population Survey.
