Are Demographics Adequate Controls for Cell-Phone-Only Coverage Bias in Mass Communication Research?

Watson, Brendan R.; Zamith, Rodrigo; Cavanah, Sarah; Lewis, Seth C.

doi:10.1177/1077699015589187

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…stratified to be proportional to known population characteristics), if that is their objective. Researchers who choose to weight their responses to make up for under-and over-sampling should be expected to note the limitations of such procedures (see Watson et al, 2015).…”

Section: Recommendations For Reviewersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surveying journalists in the “New Normal”: Considerations and recommendations

Molyneux

Zamith

2020

Journalism

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As journalism undergoes widespread changes, it finds itself in a ‘new normal’. Research seeking to understand these changes by surveying journalists faces new methodological hurdles that span different stages of the survey process. This article identifies the key contemporary challenges when it comes to sampling, instrument design, and distribution. Best research practices in identifying a target population, sampling, selecting or developing measures, and maximizing the likelihood of participation are presented and discussed. Advice is also offered to help peer reviewers identify common shortcomings in surveys of journalists and encourage authors to engage with the limitations of their work.

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Section: Recommendations For Reviewersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surveying journalists in the “New Normal”: Considerations and recommendations

Molyneux

Zamith

2020

Journalism

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“…The purpose of comparing the first two groups is to see how many differences there are in the two samples collected through different means to gauge the probable undercoverage issue. The rationale for adding the CO group for comparison purposes is because from the other studies carried out in US and Western countries (Keeter et al, 2007;Schneiderat and Schlinzig, 2011;Vicente and Reis, 2009;Watson et al, 2015), the CO group is generally quite a different group than the population reached by the conventional fixed-line survey, which is one of the major reasons that some researchers have called the validity and unbiasedness of the fixed-line telephone survey into question. It is therefore important to examine whether such uniqueness is also presented in our samples in the Hong Kong context.…”

Section: Comparison Of Socio-demographic Characteristics Among Different Types Of Respondentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The future of telephone surveys in Hong Kong

Chiu¹,

Jiang

2017

STICS

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Purpose This paper aims to compare residential fixed-line telephone surveys with cell phone surveys for assessing the extent of the potential undercoverage issue evaluating the necessity and feasibility of conducting cell phone surveys or dual-frame telephone surveys in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach The research team simultaneously carried out a conventional fixed-line telephone survey and a cell phone survey in 2015 with similar features on survey design, sampling and data collection procedures. Two samples with sample size of 801 and 1,203 were achieved separately. Data collected were analysed to see to what extent survey findings will be biased if the sampling frame of telephone surveys is solely based on residential fixed-line numbers in Hong Kong, and if such a bias does exist, whether a survey conducted through cell phones or by adding a cell phone-only (CO) group would be an ideal solution for it. Findings The findings show that the cooperation rates for the cell phone survey were much lower than those of the fixed-line telephone survey. The respondents from two surveys were fairly different. However, estimates of most commonly used socio-demographic characteristics from the latter group had the least bias compared with population statistics. Supplanting the traditional fixed-line survey with a cell phone survey or supplementing it with a CO group will not make the resulting sample a better representative of the population but it will amplify the sample bias on the major social socio-demographic characteristics. Originality/value This paper empirically compares the two types of telephone surveys in a well-designed scientific study.

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“…Many studies have found that demographics have an impact on mobile services usage (Watson, et al, 2015;Sillice, et al, 2018;Sarraute, et al, 2014). In the context of India, there are only 17.4% female mobile users (Rathee, 2018) and less than 25% of females have access to mobile phones (Barboni, et al, 2018) (GSMA, 2018.…”

Section: Comparative Analysis Of User Awareness Of Telecom Industry Across Different Demographicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An assessment of user's awareness about Indian telecom industry and their assessment of affordability of telecom services in India

Pal¹,

Mishra²,

Farooq³

2020

Industrija

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India announced its first National Telecom Policy in 1994 and since then its telecommunications Industry has witnessed tremendous growth. At a teledensity of 89.92% (TRAI 2019), it is the second largest telecom market in the world. The policy maker, Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and the regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have taken several initiatives to ensure affordable services to telecom users. TRAI also drives initiatives to increase the level of awareness about telecom industry among users. To analyse impact of these initiatives by TRAI and DoT, this study presents an objective assessment of user's awareness and their assessment of affordability of telecom services. A structured questionnaire is used to collect data by surveying a sample of 408 telecom users. It was found that half of the respondents were aware of DoT; more than half were aware of the regulator TRAI and Indian governments vision for telecommunications and 85% of survey respondents found telecom services affordable. The level of affordability varied across gender, age group and education levels. Through regression analysis, the study found that awareness about telecom industry influences users' assessment of service affordability. Hence, TRAI and DoT should take actions to increase the level of awareness, which will improve users' perception of affordability and may lead to increased adoption of telecom services. In addition, it is suggested that affordability of female users can be addressed through customized tariff plan and schemes.

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Are Demographics Adequate Controls for Cell-Phone-Only Coverage Bias in Mass Communication Research?

Cited by 8 publications

References 30 publications

Surveying journalists in the “New Normal”: Considerations and recommendations

Surveying journalists in the “New Normal”: Considerations and recommendations

The future of telephone surveys in Hong Kong

An assessment of user's awareness about Indian telecom industry and their assessment of affordability of telecom services in India

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