Nonresponse Bias Study Approaches for Equal Opportunity Survey

• Activity Number: 250
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 10, 2015 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Eric Falk* and David McGrath
• Companies: Research, Surveys, and Statistics Center and DOD/DMDC
• Keywords: nonresponse bias ; surveys ; late responders

Abstract

The Defense Research, Surveys and Statistics Center (RSSC) is responsible for surveys that involve all military services (Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force). The results of these surveys are often mandated by Congress and results are used by policy offices to evaluate current policy and when necessary update policy. Response rates from these surveys are generally low when surveying the Active Duty, Reserve Component and their spouses. Strong and accurate administrative data has proven to be quite beneficial for adjusting for non-response, but in order to also further prove the accuracy of the estimates,, RSSC conducts non-response bias analysis.

This paper describes several non-response bias analyses that the center routinely uses to evaluate their surveys and ensure policy offices that the estimates are accurate. Given cost constraints, typically RSSC does not have the funds to conduct non-response follow-up. The paper discusses the suite of nonresponse bias analyses the center uses to assess nonresponse.