Survey Research

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Nonresponse Errors Nonresponse is usually considered a source of bias in a survey, aptly called nonresponse bias. Nonresponse bias is a problem for almost every survey as it arises from the fact that there are usually differences between the ideal sample pool of respondents and the sample that actually responds to a survey. According to Fox and Tracy (1986), "when these differences are related to criterion measures, the results may be misleading or even erroneous" (p. 9). For example, a response rate of only 40 or 50 percent creates problems of bias since the results may reflect an inordinate percentage of a particular demographic portion of the sample. Thus, variance estimates and confidence intervals become greater as the sample size is reduced, and it becomes more difficult to construct confidence limits.

Nonresponse bias usually cannot be avoided and so inevitably negatively affects most survey research by creating errors in a statistical measurement. Researchers must therefore account for nonresponse either during the planning of their survey or during the analysis of their survey results. If you create a larger sample during the planning stage, confidence limits may be based on the actual number of responses themselves.

Household-Level Determinants of Nonresponse

According to Couper and Groves (1996), reductions in nonresponse and its errors should be based on a theory of survey participation. This theory of survey participation argues that a person's decision to participate in a survey generally occurs during the first moments of interaction with an interviewer or the text. According to Couper and Groves, four types of influences affect a potential respondent's decision of whether or not to cooperate in a survey. First, potential respondents are influenced by two factors that the researcher cannot control: by their social environments and by their immediate households. Second, potential respondents are influenced by two factors the researcher can control: the survey design and the interviewer.

To minimize nonresponse, Couper and Groves suggest that researchers manipulate the two factors they can control--the survey design and the interviewer.