Using Commercial Data to Enhance Survey Eligibility: The Amerispeak Experience

• Activity Number: 37 - Combining Data and Use of Administrative Lists
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Sunday, July 30, 2017 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Ned English* and Colm O'Muircheartaigh
• Companies: NORC at the University of Chicago and NORC at the University of Chicago
• Keywords: ABS ; Commercial data ; Coverage

Abstract

The AmeriSpeak® Panel is a multi-mode address-based (ABS) panel designed to support NORC's mission to deliver reliable data to guide critical programmatic, business, and policy decisions. AmeriSpeak uses the continuously-updated NORC National Sampling Frame to create a nationally representative sample of all Americans, with specific age and race/ethnic oversamples. The ABS design allows for the enhancement of addresses from an extract of the United States Postal Service Computerized Delivery Sequence file (USPS CDSF) with lists designed to flag households as being members of specific age, race/ethnicity, or other targeted groups. AmeriSpeak has employed such "vendor-provided" lists to increase the sample size for specific demographics while not undermining the probability basis of the design. Our paper examines the utility of such lists in this context as well as any tradeoffs between efficiency, expressed as a "hit rate", and the coverage of the target population. This research is relevant to survey practitioners interested in improving design efficiency for particular domains.