Online-Umfragen: eine geeignete Erhebungsmethode für die Wahlforschung? Ein Vergleich unterschiedlicher Befragungsmodi am Beispiel der Bundestagswahl 2009

"Online-Umfragen werden in den Sozialwissenschaften immer beliebter, so auch in der Wahlforschung. Zahlreiche Studien konnten jedoch zeigen, dass sich Teilnehmer/innen an Online-Umfragen nicht nur hinsichtlich des soziodemographischen Hintergrunds, sondern auch der politischen Einstellungen von Teilnehmer/innen an persönlich-mündlichen oder telefonischen Umfragen deutlich unterscheiden. Bei Analysen des Wählerverhaltens sind diese Unterschiede jedoch unproblematisch, wenn sich die Zusammenhänge zwischen den Untersuchungsmerkmalen im Rahmen der verschiedenen Befragungsmodi ähnlich gestalten und somit die Wahlentscheidung durch dieselben Faktoren erklärt werden kann. Der vorliegende Beitrag widmet sich der Betrachtung dieser Zusammenhänge, indem Modelle des Wahlverhaltens miteinander verglichen werden, die mit Daten verschiedener Umfragemodi berechnet wurden. Hierfür werden Daten der German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) herangezogen, da im Rahmen dieses Projekts im Vorfeld der Bundestagswahl 2009 eine persönlich-mündliche, eine telefonische und mehrere Online-Umfragen nahezu zeitgleich durchgeführt wurden, was ideale Bedingungen für einen Vergleich der verschiedenen Umfragemodi bietet. Diese Untersuchung trägt somit dazu bei, die Eignung von Online-Umfragen für Analysen der empirischen Wahlforschung besser einschätzen zu können." (Autorenreferat)"Online surveys are becoming more and more popular in the social sciences, for example in electoral research. Plenty of studies have shown that participants who take part in online-surveys differ significantly from participants taking part in face-to-face, or telephone surveys, in terms of their socio-demographic background and political attitudes. Still, since electoral research aims primarily to explain voting behavior, online surveys are deemed useful tools, if the relationship between dependent and independent variables are similar in different survey types, for instance, if vote choice can be described by the same factors, regardless of the survey mode. This paper analyzes these relationships by comparing models of voting behavior which are based on data from different survey modes. Survey data from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) is used since this project simultaneously conducted a face-to-face and telephone survey, as well as online surveys ahead of the 2009 German Federal Election. Hence, these are ideal conditions for comparing different survey modes. Consequently, this paper enables one to evaluate the use of online surveys for empirical electoral research." (author's abstract

Interviewer Effects in Standardized Surveys (Version 1.0)

Concerns about interviewer effects in interviewer-mediated surveys have accompanied survey research for a long time. As interviewers are involved in nearly all aspects of the survey implementation process, they can affect almost all types of survey errors, including sampling error, nonresponse error, measurement error, and, to a lesser extent, error resulting from the coding and editing of survey responses. Building on the existing literature, this survey guideline provides an overview of interviewer effects and their estimation. It consists of two parts: first, an introductory text using the total survey error (TSE) paradigm as a theoretical framework to provide a general overview of interviewer effects; second, a brief introduction to calculating interviewer effects using multilevel analyses.Interviewereffekte in Interviewer-administrierten Umfragen sind seit langem ein wichtiges Thema in der Umfrageforschung. Da Interviewer an fast allen Aspekten der Durchführung von Umfragen beteiligt sind, können sie auf fast alle Arten von Umfragefehlern einen Einfluss haben, einschließlich Stichprobenfehler, Antwortfehler, Messfehler und in geringerem Maße Fehler, die sich aus der Kodierung und Bearbeitung von Umfrageantworten ergeben. Aufbauend auf der vorhandenen Literatur gibt diese Survey Guideline einen Überblick zu Interviewereffekten und deren Schätzung. Die Survey Guideline besteht aus zwei Teilen: Erstens, der Einleitung, in welcher das TSE-Paradigma (Total Survey Error) als theoretischer Rahmen verwendet wird, um einen allgemeinen Überblick über die Interviewer-Effekte zu geben; zweitens, eine kurze Einführung in die Berechnung der Interviewereffekte mittels Mehrebenanalysen

Using Geospatial Data to Monitor and Optimize Face-to-Face Fieldwork

Interviewers occupy a key position in face-to-face interviews. Their behavior decisively contributes to the quality of surveys. However, monitoring interviewers in face-to-face surveys is much more challenging than in telephone surveys. It is often up to the interviewer when they conduct the interviews and which addresses they work on first. Nevertheless, homogeneous fieldwork, i.e. that which has a geographically similar processing status, is particularly essential for time- and eventdependent studies such as election studies. Irregular fieldwork combined with geographical differences can have substantial impacts on data quality. Using the example of the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES), we propose and present a visual strategy by plotting key indicators of fieldwork onto a geographical map to monitor and optimize the fieldwork in face-toface interviews. The geographic visualization of fieldwork can be an additional tool not only for election studies, but also other studies

Extracellular MRP8/14 is a regulator of β2 integrin-dependent neutrophil slow rolling and adhesion

Myeloid-related proteins (MRPs) 8 and 14 are cytosolic proteins secreted from myeloid cells as proinflammatory mediators. Currently, the functional role of circulating extracellular MRP8/14 is unclear. Our present study identifies extracellular MRP8/14 as an autocrine player in the leukocyte adhesion cascade. We show that E-selectin-PSGL-1 interaction during neutrophil rolling triggers Mrp8/14 secretion. Released MRP8/14 in turn activates a TLR4-mediated, Rap1-GTPase-dependent pathway of rapid beta 2 integrin activation in neutrophils. This extracellular activation loop reduces leukocyte rolling velocity and stimulates adhesion. Thus, we identify Mrp8/14 and TLR4 as important modulators of the leukocyte recruitment cascade during inflammation in vivo

Extracellular MRP8/14 is a regulator of β2 integrin-dependent neutrophil slow rolling and adhesion

Myeloid-related proteins (MRPs) 8 and 14 are cytosolic proteins secreted from myeloid cells as proinflammatory mediators. Currently, the functional role of circulating extracellular MRP8/14 is unclear. Our present study identifies extracellular MRP8/14 as an autocrine player in the leukocyte adhesion cascade. We show that E-selectin-PSGL-1 interaction during neutrophil rolling triggers Mrp8/14 secretion. Released MRP8/14 in turn activates a TLR4-mediated, Rap1-GTPase-dependent pathway of rapid beta 2 integrin activation in neutrophils. This extracellular activation loop reduces leukocyte rolling velocity and stimulates adhesion. Thus, we identify Mrp8/14 and TLR4 as important modulators of the leukocyte recruitment cascade during inflammation in vivo

Transit-Amplifying Cells Coordinate Changes in Intestinal Epithelial Cell-Type Composition

Renewing tissues have the remarkable ability to continually produce both proliferative progenitor and specialized differentiated cell types. How are complex milieus of microenvironmental signals interpreted to coordinate tissue-cell-type composition? Here, we investigate the responses of intestinal epithelium to individual and paired perturbations across eight epithelial signaling pathways. Using a high-throughput approach that combines enteroid monolayers and quantitative imaging, we identified conditions that enrich for specific cell types as well as interactions between pathways. Importantly, we found that modulation of transit-amplifying cell proliferation changes the ratio of differentiated secretory to absorptive cell types. These observations highlight an underappreciated role for transit-amplifying cells in the tuning of differentiated cell-type composition