Characteristics of Respondents and Nonrespondents to a Questionnaire for Estimating Community Mood1

Abstract

Md. 21740) and K. J. Helsing. Characteristics of respondents and nonrespondents to a questionnaire for estimating community mood. Am J Epidemiol 97: 233-239, 1973.-In a study of community mood in Washington County, Maryland, a representative sample of adult residents was selected for interviews. Among this sample, a total of 649 persons had participated in a previous nonofficial census and for this group, similar information was available both for the 571 who were interviewed and the 78 who refused. Characteristics associated with refusals were poor education, residential stability and small households. There was also suggestive evidence that young adults and males were more likely to refuse. Urbanrural residence, cigarette smoking and frequency of church attendance did not appear to be related to refusal. health surveys; respondents and nonrespondents, characteristics; sampling studies Much of our knowledge about national and community health has been gathered by means of door-to-door interviews. This information, like most observational data on human populations, can be affected considerably by response bias. It is surprising, therefore, to find that little has been learned about differences between persons who respond to interviews and those who do not. This lack of knowledge apparently re-

Multilevel Modelling of Refusal and Non-Contact in Household Surveys: Evidence From Six UK Government Surveys

“…Our measure of household mobility (whether the household moved during the previous year) may be regarded as an indicator of social isolation, with more mobile households being less well integrated and therefore less likely to respond, as was initially hypothesized by Groves and Couper (1998). However, our results show lower refusal rates among movers than non‐movers (even after controlling for the type of accommodation), which is consistent with findings from other studies (Comstock and Helsing, 1973) including the findings in Groves and Couper (1998). A possible explanation for this effect is that a recently relocated household may need to make a greater effort to fit in with its new environment and neighbourhood, leading to a higher degree of social integration.…”

Evaluation of a volunteer sample in nasopharyngeal colonization surveys for Streptococcus pneumoniae in rural Alaska

“…found that new participants (previous nonparticipants) were more likely to be male than those we had seen in previous surveys, which is in agreement with findings from other volunteer surveys (10)(11)(12)(13). New participants (previous non-participants) were less likely to carry SP than those that had previously participated in the surveys.…”

Depressed mood and cause-specific mortality: a 40-year general community assessment

“…Sampling for the CMHE occurred through a 98% complete household roster from a private county census conducted in 1963 (33). Households were randomly selected from the listing and samples were stratified by geographic location and socioeconomic status.…”