E-raamat: Nonsampling Error in Social Surveys

For statistical and social scientists involved in survey research, McNabb (Pacific Lutheran U.) identifies the most common sources of nonsampling error in social surveys--frame, measurement, response, nonresponse, and interviewer errors--and explains their definitions, classification, causes, sources, and examples of current practice in detecting and controlling them. He includes introductory chapters on fundamental concepts and issues in survey error and methodology, ethics, classifying nonsampling error, and the research paradigms of the total survey error model and the cognitive aspects of survey methodology model, as well as a concluding chapter on the methods and tools survey designers and researchers use to detect and control nonsampling error. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A welcome and much-needed addition to the literature on survey data quality in social research, Nonsampling Error in Social Surveys, by David E. McNabb, examines the most common sources of nonsampling error: frame error; measurement error; response error, nonresponse error, and interviewer error. Offering the only comprehensive and non-technical treatment available, the book’s focus on controlling error shows readers how to eliminate the opportunity for error to occur, and features revealing examples of past and current efforts to control the incidence and effects of nonsampling error. Most importantly, it gives readers the tools they need to understand, identify, address, and prevent the most prevalent and difficult-to-control types of survey errors.

This is a book about what many survey scientists believe to be the largest source of error: nonsampling error. It is the only contemporary and comprehensive treatment of six different classes of nonsampling error, and is unique in its focus on controlling errors by showing how to eliminate the opportunity for them to occur. It includes a chapter on the prevailing paradigm in dealing with survey error, total survey error, and a section on ethics in survey research in the first chapter.