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Findings from a study involving 69 multiracial and multiethnic women show that respondents' racial identification varies considerably across question formats and that persons of mixed heritage prefer a racial identification question that provides them the opportunity to acknowledge their multiracial backgrounds. Many respondents also wanted to identify each of the racial groups constituting their backgrounds. (SLD)

Acquiescent (ARS) and extreme response styles (ERS) can have detrimental effects on survey data and, for unknown reasons, are more frequently used by Latino than non-Latino white respondents. This exploratory study examined the influence of culture on these response styles by investigating their associations with individual-level cultural factors and ARS and ERS among 1,296 Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American telephone survey respondents. Principal components representing stronger endorsement of marianismo / machismo and social attentiveness (simpatía, personalismo, respect for elders, value for sincerity, collectivism, individualism) were associated with higher ARS and ERS, while higher trust in strangers and more limited health literacy were associated with lower ERS. Findings from this study will enable survey designers to better anticipate ARS and ERS in surveys with Latino populations and, in turn, guide the selection of data collection and analysis methods to mitigate measurement error in the presence of these response styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveys are an important research modality in ophthalmology, but their quality has not been rigorously assessed. This study evaluated the quality of published ophthalmic surveys. Three survey methodologists, three senior ophthalmologists, and two research assistants developed a survey evaluation instrument focused on survey development and testing; sampling frame; response bias; results reporting; and ethics. Two investigators used the instrument to assess the quality of all ophthalmic surveys that were published between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018; indexed in MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, and/or Web of Science; contained the search terms "ophthalmology" and "survey" or "questionnaire" in the title and/or abstract; and were available in English. The search identified 626 articles; 60 met the eligibility criteria and were assessed with the survey evaluation instrument. Most surveys (93%; 56/60) defined the study population; 48% (29/60) described how question items were chosen; 30% (18/60) provided the survey for review or described the questions in sufficient detail; 30% (18/60) were pre-tested or piloted; 25% (15/60) reported validity/clinical sensibility testing; 15% (9/60) described techniques used to assess non-response bias; and 63% (38/60) documented review by an institutional review board (IRB). The quality of published ophthalmic surveys can be improved by focusing on survey development, pilot testing, non-response bias and institutional review board review. The survey evaluation instrument can help guide researchers in conducting quality ophthalmic surveys and assist journal editors in evaluating surveys submitted for publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquiescence is often defined as the systematic selection of agreeable ("strongly agree") or affirmative ("yes") responses to survey items, regardless of item content or directionality. This definition implies that acquiescence is immune to item characteristics; however, the influence of item characteristics on acquiescence remains largely unexplored. We examined the influence of eight item characteristics on acquiescence in a telephone survey of 400 Latinos and non-Latino Whites: qualified wording, mental comparisons, negated wording, unfamiliar terms, ambiguous wording, knowledge accessibility, item length, and polysyllabic wording. Negated and ambiguous wording was associated with reduced acquiescence for the full sample as well as subsamples stratified by ethnicity and sociodemographic characteristics. This effect was strongest among younger, more educated, and non-Latino white respondents. No other item characteristics had a significant influence on respondent acquiescence. Findings from this study suggest that acquiescence may be affected by interactions between respondent and item characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personalismo may have a broad influence on the well-being of U.S. Latinos by shaping social networks and, in turn, access to information and resources. However, research on personalismo is currently constrained by the lack of a psychometrically sound measure of this cultural construct. This research used a mixed-methods approach to develop a personalismo scale across three studies: a cognitive interviewing study with Mexican American adults (n = 33); a cognitive interviewing study with non-Latino White, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American adults (n = 61); and a psychometric telephone survey with Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American adults (n = 1,296). The final, 12-item scale had high internal consistency reliability and appears to be appropriate for use with Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American adults. Significant differences emerged across Latino subgroups, with higher personalismo observed among Cuban Americans and female respondents, providing empirical evidence of cultural heterogeneity among U.S. Latino populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examines monthly variation in reports of recent alcohol consumption behavior. Method: Telephone survey data collected by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to measure self-reports of drinking and heavy episodic drinking in the 30 days before the interview. The sample (N = 57,758) comprised cases collected in six states in 5 selected years. Monthly variability in self-reported alcohol consumption was evaluated by logistic regression analysis, using 'deviation from means coding' for the month of interview, with background variables and year of interview controlled and state-level clustering adjusted. Results: Adults were significantly more likely to report past 30-day alcohol consumption when interviewed during the month of January and less likely to report consumption when interviewed during March. Respondents were also more likely to report heavy episodic drinking during the month of July. Despite large differences in alcohol consumption between male and female participants, these seasonal patterns were essentially the same for both genders. Conclusions: The findings suggest that assessments of alcohol consumption that do not consider seasonal variation may be biased. In order to minimize this bias, it is recommended that researchers avoid collecting data only during these particular times of the year or extend the data collection interval and control for seasonal variability. (J. Stud. Alcohol 62: 268-272, 2001), FOR MANY YEARS, conventional wisdom has suggested that epidemiologic surveys concerned with alcohol use should avoid data collection during particular times of the year when holidays or other events may [...]

The article presents the author's presidential address speech which was delivered at the 73rd Annual Conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research in Denver, Colorado on May 17, 2018, and it mentions changes involving public opinion research over the years. The deligitimation of survey research is addressed, along with declining response rates for surveys and the claim that many Americans do not trust public opinion researchers.

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to validate the Korean American Parental Depression Literacy Scale (Parental D‐Lit Scale), which was modified from Griffith's Depression Literacy Scale based on expert reviews, individual and focus group interviews, and a cross‐sectional, self‐administered survey. Survey participants included Korean American mothers (n = 107, 74.8%) and fathers (n = 36, 25.2%) of adolescent children. We examined reliability and validity using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and correlational and comparison analyses. The scale showed moderate reliability and validity (α = 0.72) and content validity (scale‐level content validity index = 0.875). EFA resulted in a three‐factor model, and CFA showed a close fit to the data (root mean square error of approximation = 0.056). Reliability indices indicated that total scale scores were more useful for examining depression literacy than subscale scores. Criterion validity was supported by statistically‐significant correlations in the expected direction between depression literacy and other theoretically‐related constructs, including attitudes towards mental health‐care services (+), depression stigma (−), recognition of depression (+), and acculturation (+). The Parental D‐Lit Scale scores showed statistically‐significant mean differences between parents who identified depression in a vignette (mean = 18.3, standard deviation (SD) = 2.9) and those who did not (mean = 16.8, SD = 4.0), indicating the discriminant validity of the scale. The Parental D‐Lit Scale shows promise for use by psychiatric/mental health nurses in assessing the effectiveness of educational and clinical interventions. Additional research should employ larger samples in various regions of the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews unfinished business regarding the assessment of substance use behaviors by using survey research methodologies, a practice that dates back to the earliest years of this journal's publication. Six classes of unfinished business are considered including errors of sampling, coverage, non-response, measurement, processing, and ethics. It may be that there is more now that we do not know than when this work began some 50 years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An anonymous, online survey using a convenience sample of global researchers was implemented during 2013–2014 to explore the actual use or nonuse of their research outcomes in a range of interventions in the area of substance use and related disorders. Eighty-seven researchers from 19 countries responded. Based on their self-reports, the utilizability of their findings were either unknown to them or had no effects in terms of substance use treatment, prevention, policies, or professional education. Most respondents did believe, however, that their investigations had an influence on substance use research. The study's limitations are noted. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a report from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Task Force on survey response and refusal. The author reflect on the trend of rising rates of refusal to participation in surveys and the effect of refusal bias on the validity of survey results. Other topics include categorizing refusals from potential respondents, the impact of self-exclusion on research results, the enactment of procedures by researchers to prevent refusals, and the rights of respondents.

Response heaping (also referred to as rounding or digit preference) occurs when respondents show a preference for rounded numbers (often those divisible by five or 10). Conventional wisdom is that this is the result of taking cognitive shortcuts to make question answering easier, and as such, that it may be a form of survey satisficing. In four studies, we test this conventional wisdom for the first time by exploring whether response heaping occurs for five types of survey questions (behavioral frequency questions, questions that ask about an individual's personal characteristics, questions that ask about an individual's age at the time of an event, questions that ask the respondent to report a percentage, and feeling-thermometer attitude reports) under the conditions thought to foster survey satisficing (e.g., among respondents lower in ability and motivation, when the task of question-answering is difficult, and later in a long questionnaire) and whether heaped responses show effects of survey satisficing (e.g., shorter response latencies, less accuracy, and lowered predictive validity). We also examine the prevalence of response heaping and the extent to which heaping is associated across questions. Heaping above chance levels was found for most types of questions (although the prevalence of heaping varied systematically across different types of questions), but we found little evidence that heaping for most types of questions is more common under conditions thought to foster satisficing. In fact, heaping for some questions may actually reflect more thoughtful processes and result in higher data quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States has been experiencing the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression. This article presents the Life Change Consequences of the Great Recession (LCCGR), an instrument depicting work and personal life-related stressors reflecting the enduring effects of the Great Recession. A national sample of 663 respondents completed a mail survey including this instrument and measures of drinking outcomes. Multiple regression analyses addressed the links between the LCCGR and drinking. Economy-related stressors manifested significant effects on both male and female consumptions patterns, but most LCCGR subscales were more clearly related to problematic drinking patterns in men compared with women. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While surveys of nurses are an important tool in health services and policy research, they are often characterized by low response rates. The authors conducted a systematic review of 22 published reports of efforts to improve response rates to nurse surveys. Two general strategies were explored in this literature: incentive and design-based approaches. Even small financial incentives were found to be effective in improving nurse survey participation. Token nonmonetary incentives, in contrast, were much less effective. In terms of design strategies, postal and telephone strategies have generally been more successful than have fax or web-based approaches, with evidence also supporting use of mixed-mode surveys in this population. In addition, use of first-class stamps on return envelopes as well as questionnaires personalized and endorsed by legitimizing professional associations were also more likely to be successful. Researchers should continue to implement evidence-based strategies in order to improve the survey response of nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although physician surveys are an important tool in health services and policy research, they are often characterized by low response rates. The authors conducted a systematic review of 66 published reports of efforts to improve response rates to physician surveys. Two general strategies were explored in this literature: incentive and design-based approaches. Even small financial incentives were found to be effective in improving physician response. Token nonmonetary incentives were much less effective. In terms of design strategies, postal and telephone strategies have generally been more successful than have fax or Web-based approaches, with evidence also supporting use of mixed-mode surveys in this population. In addition, use of first-class stamps on return envelopes and questionnaires designed to be brief, personalized, and endorsed by legitimizing professional associations were also more likely to be successful. Researchers should continue to implement design strategies that have been documented to improve the survey response of physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the relationship between nonresponse processes and key research variables is central to evaluating if and how nonresponse introduces bias into survey estimates. In most telephone surveys, however, little information is available with which to estimate these effects. We report a procedure for examining the potential effects of nonresponse via analyses that (1) investigate the linkages between community-level (zip code) variables and survey nonresponse and (2) examine the associations between these community-level variables and key survey measures. We demonstrate these procedures using hierarchical modeling to analyze data from a state-wide telephone survey in Illinois. One zip code-level indicator of concentrated disadvantage--the percentage of the population below poverty level--was found to be positively associated with nonresponse and, among respondents, with both current physical disability status and lack of health insurance coverage, suggesting that both may have been underestimated in this survey. This inexpensive approach has the potential of enabling researchers to routinely evaluate nonresponse effects in their survey data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an overview of the cross-cultural quality of survey reports of substance use behaviors in the United States. Empirical data from 36 published studies (1977 2003) are examined to evaluate the reliability and validity of substance use reports across cultural groups. In these studies, race/ethnicity are used as proxy indicators of respondent culture. In general, the available research suggests that, with a few exceptions, the quality of survey data on racial and ethnic disparities in substance use is often limited by differential measurement error. A conceptual paradigm is presented to consider a wide range of potential causes for these differences in measurement error that includes two dimensions: emphasis on negative vs. positive behavior patterns, and emphasis on internal vs. external causal factors. These two dimensions yield four potential models that arc useful in understanding variations in substance use measurement error: the cultural deficit model, the cultural conflict model, the mainstream conformity model, and the cultural distrust model. Future research should focus on the ability of each of these alternative models to account for cultural variability in the quality of substance use reporting. Key Words: Culture; Survey measurement error; Substance use; Risk; High risk populations; Proxy indicators; Recanting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a small number of studies are available that evaluate the effects of interviewer characteristics in substance use surveys conducted in person, none have done so using information collected via telephone interviews. We address this issue by examining the utility of social attribution and social desirability models for detecting the presence of interviewer effects in a large statewide telephone survey concerned with substance use. The specific outcome variables of interest were reports of lifetime and 18-month composite drug use. Analyses focus on the direct effects of individual interviewer characteristics (to assess social attribution) and a summary measure of interviewer-respondent similarity (to assess social distance) and employ random effects regression models to control for respondent clustering by interviewer. Results are most consistent with a social distance model and suggest that social distance between respondent and interviewer may decrease the probability of respondents reporting substance use behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features the politics of research in applied settings. Attention is given to the decision to conduct a survey, the contents of survey instruments, and the release of survey findings. The recommendations for dealing with these kinds of problems are also given. The article also draws from the specific case of survey research to explore the problems inherent in relationships between applied sociologists and their clients and to suggest some possible solutions. Specific problems receiving attention include the factors affecting the decision to conduct a survey, the contents of survey instruments, and the release of survey findings.

Although public assessments of the performance of elected officials are often measured by job rating questions using easily understood language, answers to such questions can be difficult to interpret because of their use of generic words containing multiple meanings. The word "far," which is often presented as a response intended to signify mild disapproval, is particularly problematic in this regard. Because of this problem, we have used a statewide survey to compare results generated by job rating (excellent, good, fair, poor) and job approval (strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, strongly disapprove) questions for elected officials. Magnitude estimation techniques are employed to enhance our understanding of the general value attached to responses and the stability of their meaning for respondents. Finally, a structural model of assessments developed. We conclude that while job approval questions have some advantages over job rating questions, a number of potential problems must be considered before either strategy is chosen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Through its influence on social interactions, simpatía may have a wide-ranging influence on Latinx health. Simpatía —which does not have a direct English translation—refers to being perceived as likeable, pleasant, and easygoing. Research to investigate the influence simpatía on Latinx health is limited, likely due to a lack of options for measuring simpatía among diverse Latinx populations. Objectives: The goal of this research was to develop a bilingual, survey-based simpatía scale for use among ethnically diverse Latinx adults in health-related settings. Methods: Data were obtained through a telephone survey data of 1,296 Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American adults living in the United States. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. Exploratory factor analysis, item response theory analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and computation of estimates of internal consistency reliability were conducted to inform the development of the final simpatía scale. Results: Results indicate that the final, nine-item, simpatía scale has high internal consistency (α =.83) and measurement invariance among Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American adults. Two dimensions were identified, as indicated by a perceptions subscale and a behavior subscale. Cuban Americans were found to have the highest simpatía scores, followed by Puerto Ricans and Mexican Americans. Discussion: Culture is often identified as a powerful potential influence on health-related behaviors, but measures are often not available to assess specific cultural traits. By developing a new tool for measuring simpatía , this research advances opportunities for understanding and promoting Latinx health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss nonresponse bias as a source of error in surveys that are published in many biomedical journals. Several approaches are considered for estimating, evaluating and reporting nonresponse bias. Ways to evaluate nonresponse bias are described, including conducting a follow-up survey with non-respondents and comparing early versus late respondents. Researchers' responsibility for considering and reporting how their respondents and non-respondents may vary is addressed.

We compared responses to questions about tobacco use and passive exposure to smoking with biological tests for cotinine in order to estimate tobacco-reporting validity in an epidemiological survey on drug use. Respondents identified via multistage sampling (n=627) completed household surveys that were administered using an Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (ACASI) procedure. Following the survey, respondents were asked to participate in drug testing. Saliva (oral fluid) was used to screen for the presence of cotinine, a major metabolite of tobacco. Hair, urine, and oral fluid testing were used to detect the presence of illicit drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. While underreporting of tobacco was relatively rare, estimates from this recent study suggest that it may be increasing over time. Even after adjusting for passive exposure, self-report sensitivity estimates were still well below the 90% level suggested in prior reviews. Underreporting of marijuana and race/ethnicity showed a strong association with underreporting of tobacco use, suggesting that factors associated with the underreporting of illicit substance use parallel those associated with the underreporting of tobacco use. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Since subjects are often uncomfortable disclosing sensitive information, questions gauging respondent reaction to survey questions about drug abuse may aid in the interpretation of responses. Such debriefing questions can be worded subjectively, i.e., asking subjects about their perceptions of the reactions of others to questions. Using data from a study employing both types of debriefing questions, we examined whether question wording made any difference. We evaluated the extent to which drug reporting was associated with respondent reaction to the survey and whether reactions varied by type of debriefing question. A factor analysis of debriefing questions appended to an experimental household survey on drug abuse yielded factors reflecting distinct subjective and projective dimensions. Analyses suggested that debriefing question wording does make a difference with respect to respondent reaction. Contrary to expectations, analyses suggested that those reporting drug use expressed less comfort on subjectively worded items and more comfort on projectively worded items. Subjects who self-administered their survey also reported lower levels of subjective comfort. The projective measures derived from analsyses were associated with three demographic variables: Younger subjects reported higher levels of projective ease than older subjects. Those with some college reported higher levels of projective ease than those with the least amount of formal education. African-Americans reported lower levels of projective ease than White/Other subjects. Implications for the design, interpretation, and analysis of drug use surveys are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]