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Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda (2013)

Chapter: Acronyms and Abbreviations

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Suggested Citation:"Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2013. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18293.
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Acronyms and Abbreviations

AAPOR American Association for Public Opinion Research
ABS address-based sampling
ACASI audio computer-assisted self-interviewing
ACS American Community Survey
AHEAD Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old Survey
AHS American Housing Survey
ATUS American Time Use Survey
   
BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics
BRFSS Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
   
CAPI computer-assisted personal interviewing
CARI computer-assisted recorded interviewing
CASI computer-assisted self-interviewing
CASRO Council of American Survey Research Organizations
CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CE Consumer Expenditure Survey
CED Consumer Expenditure Diary
CEQ Consumer Expenditure Quarterly Interview Survey
CHI contact history instrument
CNSTAT Committee on National Statistics
CODA Children of the Depression Age cohort
CPS Current Population Survey
   
DSF U.S. Postal Service Delivery Sequence File
Suggested Citation:"Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2013. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18293.
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EBB Early Baby Boomer Survey
   
FCSM Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology
FMI fraction of missing information
   
GSS General Social Survey
   
HINTS Health Information National Trends Survey
HRS Health and Retirement Study
   
IRS Internal Revenue Service
IVR interactive voice response
   
LST leverage–saliency theory
   
MAR missing at random
MCAR missing completely at random
MSA metropolitan statistical area
   
NCVS National Crime Victimization Survey
NHES National Household Education Survey
NHIS National Health Interview Survey
NIS National Immunization Survey
NLS National Longitudinal Survey
NLSY National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
NMCES National Medical Care Expenditure Survey
NRC National Research Council
   
OMB Office of Management and Budget
   
PAPI paper-and-pencil interviewing
PSID Panel Study of Income Dynamics
PSU primary sampling unit
   
RCD responsive collection design
RDD random digit dialing
RDS respondent-driven sampling
   
SAQ self-administered questionnaire
SCA Survey of Consumer Attitudes
SCF Survey of Consumer Finances
SIPP Survey of Income and Program Participation
SLID Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics
Suggested Citation:"Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2013. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18293.
×
SSN Social Security number
StARS Statistical Administrative Records System
   
T-ACASI telephone audio computer-assisted self-interviewing
TDM total design method
TPOPS Telephone Point of Purchase Survey
   
WB War Baby cohort
   
Suggested Citation:"Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2013. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18293.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2013. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18293.
×
Page 123
Suggested Citation:"Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2013. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18293.
×
Page 124
Suggested Citation:"Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2013. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18293.
×
Page 125
Suggested Citation:"Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2013. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18293.
×
Page 126
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For many household surveys in the United States, responses rates have been steadily declining for at least the past two decades. A similar decline in survey response can be observed in all wealthy countries. Efforts to raise response rates have used such strategies as monetary incentives or repeated attempts to contact sample members and obtain completed interviews, but these strategies increase the costs of surveys. This review addresses the core issues regarding survey nonresponse. It considers why response rates are declining and what that means for the accuracy of survey results. These trends are of particular concern for the social science community, which is heavily invested in obtaining information from household surveys. The evidence to date makes it apparent that current trends in nonresponse, if not arrested, threaten to undermine the potential of household surveys to elicit information that assists in understanding social and economic issues. The trends also threaten to weaken the validity of inferences drawn from estimates based on those surveys. High nonresponse rates create the potential or risk for bias in estimates and affect survey design, data collection, estimation, and analysis.

The survey community is painfully aware of these trends and has responded aggressively to these threats. The interview modes employed by surveys in the public and private sectors have proliferated as new technologies and methods have emerged and matured. To the traditional trio of mail, telephone, and face-to-face surveys have been added interactive voice response (IVR), audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI), web surveys, and a number of hybrid methods. Similarly, a growing research agenda has emerged in the past decade or so focused on seeking solutions to various aspects of the problem of survey nonresponse; the potential solutions that have been considered range from better training and deployment of interviewers to more use of incentives, better use of the information collected in the data collection, and increased use of auxiliary information from other sources in survey design and data collection. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda also documents the increased use of information collected in the survey process in nonresponse adjustment.

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