Record-Linkage from a Technical Point of View

TRecord linkage is used for preparing sampling frames, deduplication of lists and combining information on the same object from two different databases. If the identifiers of the same objects in two different databases have error free unique common identifiers like personal identification numbers (PID), record linkage is a simple file merge operation. If the identifiers contains errors, record linkage is a challenging task. In many applications, the files have widely different numbers of observations, for example a few thousand records of a sample survey and a few million records of an administrative database of social security numbers. Available software, privacy issues and future research topics are discussed.Record-Linkage, Data-mining, Privacy preserving protocols

Avoiding Problems of Traditional Sampling Strategies for Household Surveys in Germany: Some New Suggestions

All of the sampling plans currently in use for general population surveys in Germany suffer from methodological and practical problems. A new sampling plan is thus urgently needed: one with a low cost overhead that can be prepared in a very short time. Germany also lacks a sampling plan covering all institutional populations, immigrants in general, and illegal immigrants in particular. The availability of new databases covering these populations suggests ways of developing, implementing, and testing new sampling plans for population surveys in Germany. One such sampling plan (G-Plan) is proposed here for the first time. The implementation problems of this design must be studied in a number of empirical pretests.

Multiple imputation for unit-nonresponse versus weighting including a comparison with a nonresponse follow-up study

The results of a national fear of crime survey are compared with results following the use of different nonresponse correction procedures. We compared naive estimates, weighted estimates, estimates after a thorough nonresponse follow-up and estimates after multiple imputation. A strong similarity between the MI and the follow-up-estimates was found. This suggests, that if the assumptions of MAR hold, carefully selected and collected additional data applied in a MI could yield similar estimates to a nonresponse follow-up at a much lower price and respondent burden. --Multiple Imputation,Unit-nonresponse,missing data,complex surveys.

Record-linkage from a technical point of view

"Record linkage is used for preparing sampling frames, deduplication of lists and combining information on the same object from two different databases. If the identifiers of the same objects in two different databases have error free unique common identifiers like personal identification numbers (PID), record linkage is a simple file merge operation. If the identifiers contain errors, record linkage is a challenging task. In many applications, the files have widely different numbers of observations, for example a few thousand records of a sample survey and a few million records of an administrative database of social security numbers. Available software, privacy issues and future research topics are discussed." [author's abstract

Biological variables in social surveys

"Social scientists have long virtually ignored the biological constraints of human behavior. Yet if the prediction of behavior is considered essential to a social science, neglecting any variable that might influence human behavior is unacceptable. This paper provides examples of important biological variables and describes their measurement in social surveys." (author's abstract

Biological Variables in Social Surveys

Social scientists have long virtually ignored the biological constraints of human behavior. Yet if the prediction of behavior is considered essential to a social science, neglecting any variable that might influence human behavior is unacceptable. This paper provides examples of important biological variables and describes their measurement in social surveys.

The Accuracy of Pre-Election Polling of German General Elections

Pre-election polls are the most prominent type of surveys. As with any other survey, estimates are only of interest if they do not deviate significantly from the true state of nature. Even though pre-election polls in Germany as well as in other countries repeatedly show noticeably inaccurate results, their failure appears to be quickly forgotten. No comparison considering all available German data on actual election results and the confidence intervals based on pre-election polls has been published. In the study reported here only 69% of confidence intervals covered the election result, whereas statistically 95% would have to be expected. German pre-election polls even just a month ahead are therefore much less accurate than most introductory statistical textbooks would suggest

The effect of the refusal avoidance training experiment on final disposition codes in the German ESS-2

"The implementation of a Refusal Avoidance Training (RAT) within wave 2 of the German part of the European Social Survey (ESS) successful reduced the amount of reported refusal by nearly 7%. The effect of the reduction was compensated by a nearly equal increase in the proportion of non-contacted designated respondents. This effect may be due to non-random allocation of trained interviewers. Further randomized experiments are neccessary to separate the effects of RAT on response rates." (author's abstract

Multiple imputation for unit-nonresponse versus weighting including a comparison with a nonresponse follow-up study

"The results of a national fear of crime survey are compared with results following the use of different nonresponse correction procedures. We compared naive estimates, weighted estimates, estimates after a thorough nonresponse follow-up and estimates after multiple imputation. A strong similarity between the MI and the follow-up-estimates was found. This suggests, that if the assumptions of MAR hold, carefully selected and collected additional data applied in a MI could yield similar estimates to a nonresponse follow-up at a much lower price and respondent burden." (author's abstract

Separating interviewer and sampling-point effects

"Data used in nationwide face-to-face surveys are almost always collected in multistage cluster samples. The relative homogeneity of the clusters selected in this way can lead to design effects at the sampling stage. Interviewers can further homogenize answers within the small geographic clusters that form the sampling points. The study presented here was designed to distinguish between interviewer effects and sampling-point effects using interpenetrated samples for conducting a nationwide survey on fear of crime. Even though one might, given the homogeneity of neighborhoods, assume that sampling-point effects would be especially strong for questions related to fear of crime in one's neighborhood, we found that, for most items, the interviewer was responsible for a greater share of the homogenizing effect than was the spatial clustering. This result can be understood if we recognize that these questions are part of a larger class of survey questions whose subject matter is either unfamiliar to the respondent or otherwise not well anchored in the mind of the respondent. These questions permit differing interpretations to be elicited by the interviewer." (author's abstract