The ABS Frame: Quality and Considerations

• Activity Number: 557
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 1, 2012 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Shelley Brock*+ and Daifeng Han and Jill M. Montaquila
• Companies: Westat and Westat and Westat
• Keywords: Address based sampling ; mail survey ; data quality

Abstract

Address based sampling (ABS) is increasingly being used in the current survey environment of declining response rates and coverage concerns associated with landline random digit dial surveys. The goals of this research are to determine the implications of using ABS frame variables for data collection, to evaluate data quality of demographic variables provided on ABS frames, and to examine the possibility of using ABS frame variables to guide survey design. This research will focus on ABS with mail as the mode of collection, although some of the findings will be pertinent to ABS surveys using other modes of data collection. The implications of using ABS on data collection will be evaluated by examining the association of frame data with eligibility rates, response rates, and characteristics of survey respondents. Quality of frame data will be evaluated by examining rates of availability of these items and by comparing these data to information reported by respondents. The ability to use ABS frame information for stratification and to guide operations will also be considered in light of the findings of these evaluations.