Online Program

Frame Development in Complex Organizations: Identifying the Respondents

Keywords: frame development, complex organizations,

Surveying complex organizations presents a challenge to frame development. Organizations with multiple nested levels may be structured differently across those levels. Cost and accuracy are optimized by identifying the fewest organizational units that can provide complete coverage of the data. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) annually surveys probation agencies to derive accurate counts of the population under supervision. The organization of probation supervision across and within states varies widely, as it may be administered by different branches of government, and clusters of judicial jurisdictions may have their own organization. BJS has traditionally obtained data from “central reporters” who provide all of a state’s data, or from multiple reporters within states. The organizational variety makes it difficult to ensure that the total population under supervision is completely enumerated and non-redundant. We describe a BJS project to build and screen a frame that comprehensively covers all jurisdictions at all levels with the fewest respondents. This approach has relevance for both government and business surveys which require similar, complex, screening processes.