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Activity Number: 425 - Contributed Poster Presentations: Survey Research Methods Section
Type: Contributed
Date/Time: Tuesday, July 31, 2018 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
Abstract #329164
Title: Competing Imputation Approaches Under Simulated Nonignorable Missingness for Perpetrator Characteristics in the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports
Author(s): George Couzens* and Marcus Berzofsky
Companies: RTI International and RTI International
Keywords: imputation; nonignorable missingness; fully-conditional specification; supplementary homicide reports
Abstract:

This paper compares two common methods for imputation (Fully Conditional Specification and Weighted Sequential Hot-Deck) under varying levels of simulated non-ignorable missingness in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHRs). The SHR data contain valuable detailed information on victim, perpetrator, and incident characteristics relating to homicides occurring in the U.S., but the utility of these data is limited by the high rates of missingness on perpetrator variables resulting from homicide case insolvency. Particular attention is given to the formulation of the missingness induction mechanism which utilizes information known about victim characteristics in unsolved cases to simulate non-ignorable missingness for known perpetrators. Simulation-based sensitivity results show the methods compare similarly on these data, though neither is able to achieve adequate estimate coverage nor eliminate the directional bias in point estimates given even moderate mechanism strengths.


Authors who are presenting talks have a * after their name.

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