1,721,169 research outputs found
Analysing complex survey data: clustering, stratification and weights
No full text• Survey analysts routinely ignore complex design factors such as clustering, stratification and weighting.• This results in biased estimates of standard errors and increased likelihood of Type I errors.• A substantive example is used to illustrate the problem and appropriate software applications are briefly reviewed
The effect of coding error on time use surveys estimates
No full textThis article presents the results of a coder reliability study conducted as part of the 2000 UK Time Use Survey. Five coders coded the same 40 diaries in which respondents had recorded, in their own words, their activities for every ten minutes over the course of a particular day. Coding was done via a computerised coding system, which enabled coders to view scanned digital images of diaries and access an online coding frame. In addition to an estimate of net aggregate coder reliability, proportion of agreement coefficients are presented for each of the ten main activity codes at the highest level of the coding hierarchy. Reliabilities are also calculated for individual coders. Intra-class correlation coefficients (Rho) are then estimated and these are combined with the reliability estimates to produce a variance inflation factor for each of the ten higher order main activity codes (). Some illustrative examples are provided to demonstrate the true standard errors of survey estimates once this coder error has been accounted for.<br/
Attitudes and measurement error revisited: A reply to Johnson and Pattie
No full textIn a recent Note in this Journal, Johnston and Pattie 1 contend that they have discovered an ecological fallacy in the behaviour of the six-item scale 2 developed by Heath et al. to measure the ‘left–right’ political value dimension. 3 Using data from the first six waves of the British Household Panel Study (BHPS), they show that, while there is remarkable over-time stability in the factor structure of these questions at the aggregate level, when the consistency of individual responses to each item is considered, a very different picture emerges; around 50 per cent of the sample fail to select the same response alternative on successive waves and a third of respondents select a response alternative on the opposite side of the agree/disagree scale from one time to the next. Correlations between the same items over time of around 0.4, they argue, bear out a picture of massive longitudinal instability at the individual level.<br/
Austerity policing: is visibility more important than numbers in determining public confidence in the police?
No full textThe recent deep cuts to police force budgets in the United Kingdom have reawakened longstanding debates about the effect of police numbers and organisation on the crime rate and public confidence in the police. While some claim that a reduction in numbers is likely to have a deleterious effect, others argue that raw numbers are less important than how the police are organised and deployed. By cutting red tape and focusing staffing reductions on ‘back-office’ functions, the argument goes, it should be possible to maintain a consistent ‘front-line’ presence, which is the key aspect of policing for maintaining citizen confidence in the service. In this paper we use administrative data linked to the British Crime Survey in order to assess the relative importance of police numbers and police visibility in determining public confidence in the police. We find, as expected, that visibility has a significant and positive effect on confidence. However, we also find a significant and positive effect of police numbers over and above the effect of visibility. Moreover, because the extent to which police are visible in local areas is itself a function of the number of police employed, we find that the number of police has an additional indirect influence on public confidence through its direct effect on visibility. By implication, reducing police numbers is likely to erode public confidence in the police, even if front-line visibility is maintained through organisational efficiency
A literature review of research conducted on public interest, knowledge and attitudes to biomedical science: a report published by the Wellcome Trust
No full textThis report sets out the findings of a review of existing survey-based investigationsof public knowledge, interest and attitudes to biomedical science among adultpopulations (18+) throughout the world since 1980.The review of research conducted with adults aimed to:determine what survey research has been done to date internationally in this area critically assess the approaches and questions used inform the development of the Wellcome Monitor survey.The survey was conducted between January and March 2009
Comment on “What to do instead of significance testing? Calculating the 'number of counterfactual cases needed to disturb a finding'”
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