Nurse Effects on Non-response in Survey-Based Biomeasures

Abstract

Collecting biological data in representative surveys is becoming more common due to their potential to inform research and policy. Nevertheless, using nurses to collect these data can lead to unintended effects. In this paper, we investigate how nurses influence the nonresponse process by looking at five waves of data coming from two surveys in the UK: Understanding Society and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We find that nurses explain between 5 and 14% of the variance in non-response to biological data collection. We also find that older nurses are more successful in obtaining cooperation and consent to biological data collection and nurses with more survey experience are more likely to successfully collect blood samples. Finally, we show that including nurse characteristics in non-response weighting models leads to modest changes in population estimates of biological markers.

“My Next Question is, Could I Have Some Blood?”

“…We investigated these processes in two large surveys in the UK that collect biological data using nurses: the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). 1 In the former we looked at two waves of data, while for the latter we investigated three different waves. For each stage of participation, we modelled each binary outcome (yes/no) using multilevel models (see box) with respondents' and nurse characteristics included as control variables.…”

Interviewer Effects in Biosocial Survey Measurements

“…Biomeasures can be invasive and administering them requires adequate medical equipment and medical training that is usually afforded only to certified medical professionals working in clinical settings. Transporting survey respondents to medical facilities or sending medical professionals (e.g., nurses) to respondents’ homes—a common approach in some European countries—is expensive and can lead to nonresponse, especially if there is a long gap in-between the survey interview and the biomeasure collection (Cernat et al in press; Cernat and Sakshaug 2020a; Sakshaug et al 2015).…”