Universität Mannheim: MAJOURNALS
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From Clicks to Quality: Assessing Advertisement Design’s Impact on Social Media Survey Response Quality
Full text linkResearchers are increasingly using social media platforms for survey recruitment. However, empirical evidence remains sparse on how the content and design characteristics of advertisements used for recruitment affect response quality in surveys. Building on leverage-salience and self-determination theory, we assess the effects of advertisement design on response quality. We argue that different advertisement designs may resonate with specific social groups who vary in their commitment to the survey, resulting in differences in the observed response quality. We use data from a study conducted via ads placed on Facebook in Germany and the United States in June 2023. The survey, focusing on attitudes toward climate change and immigration, featured images with varying thematic associations with the topics (strong, loose, neutral). The sample consisted of 4,170 respondents in Germany and 5,469 respondents in the United States. We compare several data quality indicators, including break-off rate, completion time, non-differentiation, item non-response, passing an attention check question, and follow-up availability, across different advertisement features. Regression analyses indicate differences in response quality across advertisement designs, with a strong thematic design generally being associated with poorer response quality. Strongly themed ad designs are generally associated with higher attrition, non-differentiation, and item non-response, and with a lower probability of passing an attention check and providing an e-mail address for future survey inquiries. Our study advances the literature by highlighting the substantial impact of advertisement design on survey data quality, and emphasizing the importance of tailored decision-making in recruitment design for social media-based survey research
Video Interviewing and Observed Differences in Mental Health Outcomes
Full text linkThe integration of video interviewing in survey research is relatively new and may offer similar benefits as telehealth visits in mental health research. Methodological evaluations of video interviewing are needed for large-scale surveys. Over 3,000 clinical interviews were conducted by video and over 1,500 by phone for a national study of U.S. adults, the Mental and Substance Use Disorders Prevalence Study (MDPS). Sociodemographic differences were observed among those who completed a clinical interview by video compared to phone respondents. Higher prevalence rates of all disorders, with the exception of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, were found for video respondents. Higher prevalence rates of generalized anxiety disorder (video 11.3% vs. 8.0%, p < .05), bipolar 1 (2.1% vs. 0.7%, p < .05) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD; 3.1% vs. 1.5%, p < .05) were observed among those completing an interview by video compared to those interviewed by phone. Individual logistic regression models were calculated for each disorder adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics to assess the difference in prevalence rate by mode of interview. Respondents interviewed by video had higher odds of having bipolar 1 (OR = 2.96, 95% CI [1.42, 6.17]), OCD (OR = 2.16, 95% CI [1.20, 3.90])and having two or more mental health disorders (OR = 1.64, 95% CI [1.23, 2.19]) than those interviewed by phone after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. While further investigation using experimental approaches is required, video interviewing may improve the ability to detect mental health conditions in large-scale survey research
Fair sharing of resources between clusters with AUDITOR
Full text linkFor several years, we have been dynamically and opportunistically integrating the computing resources of the HPC cluster NEMO into the HTC cluster ATLAS-BFG using the COBalD/TARDIS software. To increase usage efficiency, we allow the integrated resources to be shared between the various High Energy Physics (HEP) research groups in Freiburg. However, resource sharing also requires accounting. This is done with AUDITOR (AccoUnting DatahandlIng Toolbox for Opportunistic Resources), a flexible and extensible accounting ecosystem that can cover a wide range of use cases and infrastructures. Accounting data is recorded via so-called collectors and stored in a database. So-called plugins can access the data and take measures based on the accounted data. In this work, we present how NEMO resources can be fairly shared among contributing working groups when integrated into ATLAS-BFG using AUDITOR
All or Nothing: Notable Response Behavior in Rating Scales in Participant Surveys of Academic Continuing Education for Older People
Full text linkAcademic continuing education for older people is an scientifically focused offering, targeting individuals in the post-professional phase of life. This age group, and particularly this area of continuing education, has been marginally addressed in educational research. For the first time, comprehensive, cross-institutional datasets on participants are available (NMFB 2019 = 3,918; NMFB 2023 = 4,976), enabling analyses of this group’s response behavior in quantitative surveys.
Among respondents, a response behavior is observed, characterized by a distinct missing pattern. Some answer only those items on rating scales that are ‚fully applicable‘ to them, while all other items remain unanswered (missing). This response behavior has not been described previously. Consequently, this exploratory study systematically examines the response behavior and identifies data-specific characteristics potentially linked to thr response pattern. Based on theoretical considerations derived from the Total Survey Error Model and the cognitive response process model, various influencing factors are taken into account. Using logistic regression, four models were constructed, incorporating both survey-related and person-related factors (sociodemographic, participation-related, and motivation-related) step by step into the analysis. The missing pattern occurs independently of the content of the questions. Results indicate that both survey-related and person-related factors contribute this response behavior. The findings suggest multiple connections to the Total Survey Error Model but do not allow for a clear and mutually exclusive classification of the observed response error. The discussion focuses on further research desiderata and emphasizes the importance of a deeper investigation to ensure data quality and minimize systematic bias in this target group
Exploring Respondents’ Problems and Evaluation in a Survey Proposing Voice Inputs
Full text linkIntegrating voice inputs into web surveys holds the potential for various benefits, including eliciting more comprehensive and elaborate responses or extracting additional information from vocal tones and ambient sounds. Nevertheless, important challenges persist, including technical problems, privacy concerns, and low participation rates. Given the limited knowledge on this subject, this research note addresses four research questions, distinguishing between two voice input methods (dictation and voice recording) and two approaches to presenting them (providing a choice, or pushing respondents toward voice inputs, with a text alternative offered only in the absence of response): RQ1. What reasons are provided for not opting for voice inputs when they are offered? RQ2. Which variables are associated with the reported use of voice inputs? RQ3. What challenges do individuals answering through voice inputs report? And RQ4. How do respondents evaluate the different methods of answering they employed? Drawing on data from a survey on nursing homes conducted in February/March 2023 within the Netquest opt-in online panel in Spain (1,001 completes), where participants were offered to respond to two experimental questions through voice methods, our analyses reveal that contextual factors and the perceived challenge of oral expression are key reasons for abstaining from voice input responses. Furthermore, individuals who exhibited complete trust in the confidentiality of their responses and those already using voice input in their daily lives were significantly more likely to opt for voice inputs. Among respondents utilizing voice inputs, recurring challenges included contextual constraints and difficulties in verbal expression, alongside technical problems. Despite these hurdles, a majority of participants found answering through voice easy, although a lower proportion reported liking it. These results contribute to the limited literature and can help enhance the effectiveness of voice input surveys
A Scent of Strategy: Response Error in a List Experiment on Anti-Immigrant Sentiment
Full text linkThis Research Note reports on a list experiment regarding anti-immigrant sentiment (n=1,965) that was fielded in Spain in 2020. Among participants with left-of-center ideology, the experiment originated a negative difference-in-means between treatment and control. Drawing on Zigerell’s (2011) deflation hypothesis, we assess the possibility that leftist treatment group respondents may have altered their scores by more than one to distance themselves unmistakably from the sensitive item. We consider this possibility plausible in a context of intense polarization where immigration attitudes are closely associated with political ideology. This study’s data speak to the results of recent meta-analyses that have revealed list-experiments to fail when applied to prejudiced attitudes and other highly sensitive issues – i.e., precisely the kind of issues with regard to which the technique ought to work best. We conclude that the possibility of strategic response error in specific respondent categories needs to be considered when staging and interpreting list experiments
Fachgespräch, Überrumpelung, Rehabilitierung von Faschisten oder Verklärung des Kapitalismus: Die (mindestens) vier Wahrnehmungen des Besuchs Percy Ernst Schramms in Leipzig am 24. April 1954 – Eine Dokumentation in Quellen
Full text linkPercy Ernst Schramm zählt zu den renommiertesten Mittelalterhistorikern des letzten Jahrhunderts. Als standes- und rangbewusstes Mitglied einer großbürgerlichen Familie, als Rittmeister des Ersten und Major des Zweiten Weltkrieges sowie als ausgewiesene Größe seines Faches dürfte es nicht erst der Nachwelt, sondern schon seinen Zeitgenossen schwergefallen sein, Schramm zu greifen (und zu begreifen). Zu vielfältig waren die je nach eigenem Interesse und politischer Positionierung möglichen Anknüpfungspunkte. Die verschiedenen Wahrnehmungen seiner Person werden in diesem Beitrag am Beispiel seines Besuchs in Leipzig am 24. April 1954, als er über "Die Staatssymbolik im Mittelalter" referierte, verdeutlicht
Adjusting to the Survey: How Interviewer Experience Relates to Interview Duration
Full text linkInterview duration has been shown to become shorter as fieldwork progresses. This has been attributed to a learning effect interviewers go through as they gather experience. In this study, we expand on this knowledge by focusing on how two kinds of interviewer experience relate to interview duration in telephone surveys. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we employ multilevel models, accounting for the clustering of respondents within interviewers. The results strengthen previous findings associating within-survey interviewer experience with decreasing interview duration. On the other hand, countering previous work, we find evidence that interview duration also decreases with overall interviewer experience. The results add to our knowledge concerning the effect of interviewer experience in the telephone survey mode. The effects are robust to several model specifications and to different interviewer, respondent, and interview characteristics. We conclude with a discussion about how to manage interviewer experience during training and fieldwork
Continuous Time Modeling with Criminological Panel Data: An Application to the Longitudinal Association between Victimization and Offending
Full text linkBackground: Criminological research shows that there is nearly always a strong and positive association between delinquency and being a victim of crime. This so-called victim-offender overlap is one of the most consistent and best documented findings in criminology. However, examinations using longitudinal panel data are rather scarce. Previous analyses based on latent growth and cross-lagged panel models showed that the developments of victimization and offending are parallel processes that expose similar stability and mutual influence over the period of adolescence and early adulthood (Erdmann & Reinecke, 2018).Objectives: The present study examines the relationship between victimization and offending over the phase of adolescence and emerging adulthood. The focus is on the application of continuous time dynamic modeling and on comparing results using data from the criminological panel study Crime in the Modern City. For the present analyses, seven consecutive panel waves are used that contain information about German adolescents from the age of 14 to 20 years. Approach: The relationship between victimization and offending is analyzed by continuous time structural equation modeling using the R package ctsem (Driver & Voelkle, 2018, 2021). In addition to the unconditional models, relevant predictors (gender, routine activities) are considered in the conditional models. Methododological and substantive aspects of continuous time dynamic modeling are highlighted in the discussion of the results
Combining Information from Multiple Data Sources to Improve Sampling Efficiency
Full text linkMany surveys target population subgroups that may not be readily identified in sampling frames. In the case study that motivated this study, the target population was households with children between the ages of 3 and 10 from two areas surrounding Cleveland, Ohio and Dallas, Texas. A standard approach is to sample households from these two areas and then screen for the presence of age-eligible children. Based on the estimated number of age-eligible households in these two areas, this approach would have required completing screening interviews with 5.4 to 5.7 households to find one eligible household. We developed a model-assisted sample design strategy to improve screening efficiency by attaching a measure of eligibility propensity to each household in the population. For this, we used a modeling and imputation strategy that combined information from several data sources: (1) the population of addresses for these two areas with demographic covariates from a commercial vendor, (2) external population data (from the American Community Survey and Census Planning Data) for these two areas, and (3) screening data from a large nationally representative survey. We first tested this sampling strategy in a pilot study and then implemented it in the main study. This strategy required 4.2 to 4.3 completed screeners to identify one eligible household. The proposed approach therefore improved the sampling efficiency by about 25% relative to the standard approach