Social Research Centre workshop - Telephone Surveying in the Post-Modern Era, held Thursday 10 October 2019. Presentation by Anna Lethborg - Research Director (Social Research Centre)
Workshop session 10 - Alternatives to CATI (3) address-based sampling and push-to-web
1. A subsidiary of:
Alternatives: address-based sampling
(A-BS) and sequential mixed-mode
Telephone Interviewing in the Post-Modern Era Conference
Melbourne
10 October, 2019
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Three core design features
Address-based
sampling (A-BS)
Mail and phone
recruitment
Sequential
mixed-mode
data collection
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1 2 3
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Address-based sampling
A-BS is not new but is being
increasingly used for large-
scale social surveys
internationally
Dates to mid-2000s in the U.S.
Landline RDD coverage was
beginning to be recognised as
a problem
Telephone response rates
were decreasing
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• Near universal coverage
of physical addresses
• Geocoded data allows for
accurate sub-national
sampling
• Able to append auxiliary
data
• Still a work in progress
Rationale
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Sample frame
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Source: PSMA Australia (2018)
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Geo-coded National Address File (G-NAF)
Maintained by PSMA Australia
(jointly owned by Commonwealth
and State / Territory govts
Over 13,000,000 addresses
Updated quarterly
Three reliable sources of address
information
Incl. validated addresses with
Postal Address Flag (PAF)
State and Territory
Governments
Australian Election
Commission
National Mailing
Contributor
9%
7%
66%
3%
2%10%
3%
86%
9.2% unuseable
58.3%
unuseable
AES (2016)
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Dual-modes of recruitment
Primary recruitment mode is mail
Invitation and reminder letters
Reminder postcards
Questionnaire
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• Mail is an authoritative
contact method
• Inclusion of non-contingent
incentives
• Can send additional
informational materials
• Phone reminders may be
more persuasive
Rationale
2
Ability to match addresses to
phone numbers (56.4%) also
allows for telephone
recruitment
Reminder calls
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Sequential mixed-mode
Data collection method developed
from late 2000s, publications from
early 2010s
Staggered approach
1. Push-to-web phase
2. Hard copy questionnaire sent
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• Maximise online
completions before
introducing hard copy
• Data quality
• Reduced cost
• High response rates
Rationale
3
Non-responders sent 2-3
reminders before second
mode introduced
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How did we get here?
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2019
Australian
Election
Study
2016 Australian Election Study
2018 World
Values Survey
2015 Online Panels
Benchmarking Study
2018 Australian
Barometer
Study
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Evolving design
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Length 45 mins / 24 pg 51 mins / 28 pg 48 mins / 28 pg 45 mins / 24 pg
Incentives $10,000 prize draw $5 / $10 $5 / $10 $5 / $20
Pre-notification letter - - - 1
Reminder postcards 1 2 2 2
Reminder calls 1 2 2 2
Hard copy mailings 1 2 2 2
Reminder letters 3 2 2 2
Branding - Full Full Full
Timeline Short push-2-web Extended Condensed Extended
AES 2016 WVS 2018 Barometer 2018 AES 2019
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Respondent profile
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Respondent characteristics
Push-to-
web
Mixed-
mode
Total
Aust.
adults*
Gender
Male 42.3 42.1 42.2 49.2
Female 56.3 55.7 56.1 50.9
Age
18 to 24 3.6 2.4 3.1 12.2
25 to 34 11.2 8.9 10.2 19.3
35 to 44 13.3 14.2 13.7 17.1
45 to 54 17.5 13.8 15.9 16.7
55 to 64 20.8 20.0 20.5 14.9
65 to 74 21.6 20.0 20.9 11.3
75 and over 8.3 15.1 11.4 8.6
*Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Estimated Residential Population, December 2017
Available from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0
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Respondent profile
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Respondent characteristics
Push-to-
web
Mixed-
mode
Total
Aust.
adults*
Education
University 43.7 35.2 39.8 25.6
Non-university 52.7 60.1 56.1 74.4
SEIFA
Quintile 1 – Lowest 11.9 13.5 12.6 20.0
Quintile 2 20.4 21.5 20.9 20.0
Quintile 3 22.7 23.1 22.9 20.0
Quintile 4 21.8 20.6 21.2 20.0
Quintile 5 – Highest 23.3 21.3 22.4 20.0
*Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Estimated Residential Population, December 2017
Available from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0
Available in sample
Possible to
oversample lower
quintiles
Means lower RR
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Operational considerations
Field period is extensive (3-4 months) due to sequential design and need to
cover multiple contact attempts
Limited ability to change specifications once data collection started
No ability to respond to deviations from production assumptions
Hard copy questionnaire not changeable
Pilot testing desirable
Compared to dual-frame RDD, respondent profile is older, more female and
better educated
Postage contributes considerably to cost
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Operational considerations
For long questionnaires, consider two-phase approach:
1. Short screener to identify characteristics of interest (e.g. presence of
children, health issues), collect household roster, alternate contact
information (email, phone)
2. Recontact selected households: allows offline selection of individual
from household roster, sampling of sub-populations, transition to
alternative modes
Considerations:
Even longer data collection period
Lower response rate than one phase
Higher cost for incentives
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Operational considerations
Within-household
selection not used since
2016 AES
Believed to
negatively impact
response rate
Respondents known
to not follow sampling
instructions
Currently experimenting
with next / last birthday
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Male 48.9 42.9 49.1
Female 51.1 57.1 50.9
*Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Estimated Residential Population, December 2017
Available from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0
AES 2016 AES 2019 Aust adults*
18 to 34 years 10.9 13.2 31.5
35 to 44 years 11.2 13.7 17.1
45 to 54 years 15.7 15.9 16.7
55 years and over 62.2 57.2 34.8
Gender
Age
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Questionnaire considerations
Limited complexity due to need for paper mode
Limit skips, open-ended questions, etc.
Certain question types will need a fundamental redesign
Move to online / hard copy from phone likely to lead to mode effects
Phone: response recency (more likely to select options read out last),
response acquiescence and social desirability
Online / hard copy: response primacy (more likely to select options
appearing earlier), straight-lining and other response non-differentiation
Efforts to understand mode effects will assist in transitioning
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For us…
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Unpack influences
on response rate
Non-response analysis
Apply within-household
selection routines
Continued
experimentation
(e.g. registered post)
Consider two-phase
data collection
NEXT
STEPS
Making sample-based
corrections to improve
representativeness
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For you…
If so, consider the following design
elements:
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Is A-BS sequential mixed-mode
appropriate for your study?
How important is response
rate?
Do you need to be able to sub-
sample based on location?
How long can you allow for data
collection?
What profile are you seeking?
Is self-completion desirable?
Is sequential mixed-mode
required or is push-to-web
sufficient for your needs?
Have you prepared for the
transition?
Rotating phone response
frames
Consider bridging waves or
fielding waves simultaneously
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Law Courts Victoria 8010
03 9236 8500
A subsidiary of:
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Thank you
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References
Battaglia, M, Link, MW, Frankel, MR, Osborn, L, and Mokdad, AH, 2008, ‘An evaluation of
respondent selection methods for household mail surveys’, Public Opinion Quarterly, vol.
72, no. 3, pp. 459-469.
Dillman, DA, 2017, ‘The promise and challenge of pushing respondents to the web in
mixed-mode surveys’, Survey Methodology, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 3-30.
Dillman, DA, 2009, Internet, Mail, and Mixed-mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method,
3rd Edition, pp. 234-299.
Dykema, J, Jacques, K, Cyffka, K, Assad, N, Ganci Hammers, R, Elver, K, Malecki, KC and
Stevenson, J, 2015, ‘Effects of sequential prepaid incentives and envelope messaging in
mail surveys’, Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 79, no. 4, pp. 906-931.
Edwards, P, Roberts, I, DiGuiseppi, C, Wentz, R, Kwan, I, Cooper R, Felix LM and Pratap,
S, 2009, ‘Methods to increase response to postal and electronic questionnaires (review)’,
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, issue 3, art. MR000008.
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References
Fan, W. & Yan, Z., 2010, ‘Factors affecting response rates of the web survey: A systemic
review’, Computers in Human Behaviour, vol. 26, pp.132-139.
Groves, RM, Cialdini, RB and Couper, MP, 1992, ‘Understanding the decision to participate
in a survey’, Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 475-495.
Iannacchione VG, Staab JM, & Redden DT (2003). Evaluating the use of residential mailing
addresses in a metropolitan household survey. Public Opinion Quarterly 67(2):202–210.
Link MW, Battaglia MP, Frankel MR, Osborn L, & Mokdad AH (2006). Address-based versus
random-digit-dial surveys: comparison of key health and risk indicators. American Journal of
Epidemiology 164(10):1019–1025.
Tourangeau, R, 2017, ‘Mixing modes: tradeoffs among coverage, nonresponse, and
measurement error’, in PP Biemer, E de Leeuw, S Eckman, B Edwards, F Kreuter, LE
Lyberg, N Clyde Tucker and BT West (eds.), Total Survey Error in Practice, Hoboken, NJ,
USA: Wiley, pp. 115-132.
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Editor's Notes
Welcome – thank you all for staying awake
The next alternative for discussion is address-based sampling for sequential mixed-mode studies
Apologies in advance to everyone from the ABS for my use of the abbreviation A-BS
I’d like to thank Ben for his input into the slide development
Another alternative to CATI is using address-based sampling to administer a sequential mixed-mode study, or what we call “A-BS sequential mixed-mode”.
Before sharing some of our learnings since we first used this mode in 2015, I’ll introduce the key features of the design and tell you the rationale behind each
There are actually three core elements to the A-BS sequential mixed-mode design
Firstly we are using an address-based approach to sampling. For CATI studies we use landline or mobile telephone numbers, we’re talking about a list of postal addresses.
Primary mode of contact is mail, we are also able to match phone numbers to the frame so you can do reminder calls
And instead of telephone as the default mode for data collection, we use a two staged (sequential) approach to data collection. First, there is a push-to-web phase where respondents are invited to complete online and, following a period of time, a hard copy questionnaire is sent to provide an opportunity for the offline population to participate.
Address-based sampling (A-BS) was developed in the mid-2000s in the U.S. (Iannacchione, Staab & Redden 2003; Link et al. 2006) as a response to the declining coverage of the landline random digit dialling (RDD) frame and declining telephone survey response rates.
PSMA Australia (formerly Public Sector Mapping Authority)
G-NAF sample frames select addresses from a database with near universal coverage (all physical addresses in Australia) of residential homes as distinct from the traditional block-listing approach. The G‑NAF was supplied by Mastersoft Group.
Previous experience shows that very few completed questionnaires are obtained from non-validated addresses and that attempts to enumerate this sample also results in high rates of sample loss (58.3% unusable sample compared to 9.2% amongst the validated sample) and greatly reduced sample efficiency.
Edwards 2009 cites evidence for sending a pre-notification letter
Works with any sample with addresses; not limited to address based samples
Sequential mixed mode design with paper not offered to begin with (Tourangeau, 2017)
Questionnaire offered at 3rd or 4th contact (Dillman, 2017)
135 days of collection
(4.5 months)!
Match rate from AES 2019
Approach envelopes sponsored by an official / authoritative academic or government body (Dillman, 2017; Fan et al., 2010; Groves et al., 1992).
Do not include graphics or external messaging on envelopes (Dykema et al., 2015) or brightly coloured envelopes as these can be mistaken for marketing materials (Dillman, 2009).
Letters:
Be brief and emphasise the importance / significance of the study (Dillman, 2009)
Mention being part of a small selected group (Groves et al., 1992; Fan et al., 2010)
Use different messages / tone / look used at different contact points (Dillman, 2009)
Personally address survey invitations (Dillman, 2009; Fan & Yan, 2010).
Use of an illustrated questionnaire booklet cover page (Edwards, et al., 2009)
Include a token of appreciation (non-contingent incentive) with the survey request (Dillman, 2009)
Push-to web (n=662)
Mixed-mode (n=549)
Total (n=1,211)
Push-to web (n=662)
Mixed-mode (n=549)
Total (n=1,211)
Possible selection methods for address-based studies include a next / last birthday approach (Battaglia et al., 2008 and Olson, Stange & Smyth, 2014)
AES 2016 n=1,398
AES 2019 n=1,211
Prior to moving, rotate phone options to identify items affected by response recency (if you don’t already)
Consider bridging wave or waves fielded simultaneously across both modes to determine effect of measurement on individual items