Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 128-134, 2003
© 2003 Medical Council on Alcohol
ESTIMATING NON-RESPONSE BIAS IN A SURVEY ON ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION: COMPARISON OF RESPONSE WAVES
1 Addiction Research Institute (IVO), Heemraadssingel 194, 3021 DM Rotterdam,
2 Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg,
3 Trimbos Institute, Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, PO Box 725, 3500 Utrecht and
4 Rotterdam Municipal Health Service, PO Box 70032, 3000 LP Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Received 23 May 2002; first review notified 11 September 2002; accepted 30 September 2002
Aims: According to the continuum of resistance model late respondents can be used as a proxy for non-respondents in estimating non-response bias. In the present study, the validity of this model was explored and tested in three surveys on alcohol consumption. Methods: The three studies collected their data by means of mailed questionnaires on alcohol consumption whereby two studies also performed a non-response follow-up. Results: Comparisons of early respondents, late respondents and non-respondents in one study showed some support for the continuum of resistance model, although another study could not confirm this result. Comparison of alcohol consumption between three time response groups showed no significant linear pattern of differences between response waves. Conclusions: The hypothesis that late respondents are more similar to non-respondents than early respondents, could not be confirmed or rejected. Repeated mailings are effective in obtaining a greater sample size, but seem ineffective in improving the representativeness of alcohol consumption surveys.
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
A. D. Steffen, L. N. Kolonel, A. M. Nomura, F. S. Nagamine, K. R. Monroe, and L. R. Wilkens The Effect of Multiple Mailings on Recruitment: The Multiethnic Cohort Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., February 1, 2008; 17(2): 447 - 454. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
