Exploring Calibration of NIS Weights Utilizing Telephone Status from the NHIS

• Activity Number: 563
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Meena Khare*+ and Kennon R. Copeland and Abera Wouhib and Nadarajasundaram Ganesh and Kirk M. Wolter
• Companies: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NORC at the The University of Chicago and National Center for Health Statistics and NORC at the The University of Chicago and NORC at the The University of Chicago
• Keywords: RDD telephone surveys ; noncoverage adjustment

Abstract

National Immunization Survey (NIS), a landline telephone survey, monitors vaccination coverage rates among children aged 19-35 months and adolescents aged 13-17 years. In 2009, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) attempted to obtain consent to contact vaccination providers of children with a completed interview. This NHIS Provider Record Check (NHIS-PRC) study followed the NIS provider data collection procedure for age-eligible children and adolescents with consent. The NHIS-PRC data collection operation covered both landline and non-landline telephone households. The increased number of inaccessible households in recent years due to non-landline telephone status widens the gap between the target and the sampled populations, raising a major concern regarding the representativeness of the NIS sample. We explore the impact of the potential nonrepresentativeness of the NIS sample on estimated vaccination coverage rates. Distribution of telephone status, household characteristics, and estimated vaccination coverage rates from the 2009 NHIS-PRC study are utilized to calibrate 2009 NIS estimates. We compare estimated vaccination coverage rates with and without calibrated weights.