Sunday, March 20, 2011

The Phantom Respondents : Opinion Surveys and Political Representation

The Phantom Respondents : Opinion Surveys and Political Representation

John Brehm


-          Heisenberg uncertainty principle : by measuring a phenomena, one defines what the phenomena looks like.

-          this book à a model of survey participation

-          why do people participate in surveys

o   contact

o   eligible and capable

o   comply with request to be interviewed

-          comply

o   relationship to

§  strangers

§  interviewer

§  interview

§  self image

-          non response data

o   interviewer supplied information

o   reluctant vs amenable respondents

§  reluctant respondents treated as proxy for non respondents

§  response to survey is a continuum , not a dichotomy

o   mini questionnaire

-          Modelling corrections for non response

o   weighting

-          If we can model why people participate in surveys, then we have the means to correct for model misspecification

-          ask respondent times when they would have been available à can't find reference

 

No comments: