Is ABS a Viable Alternative to RDD?

• Activity Number: 594
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 4, 2010 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Karol Krotki*+
• Companies: RTI International
• Keywords: multi-mode surveys ; address matching ; sample design

Abstract

As traditional telephone samples experience increasing challenges, practitioners are turning to alternative approaches. One such strategy is Address-Based Sampling (ABS) which involves sampling addresses and then collecting data via mail or telephone. In this trial the goal was to obtain 1,000 completed interviews using a short and relatively innocuous questionnaire. The address sample was matched using several vendors to find as many telephone numbers as possible and these were interviewed by phone. We contacted the remaining addresses by mail. In this presentation we report on the success rate of the matching process and the response rates for the telephone and male portions. We discuss using the household vs. individual as the unit of sampling and the resulting challenges for weighting. Finally, we compare this ABS survey with similar RDD studies with respect to cost and data quality.