Aging and the Reliability of Survey Data

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究探讨年龄与自述问卷测量误差的关系。研究的重点是调查访谈作为收集社会数据的一种方法，以及在这种访谈中评估的测量误差的程度随受访者年龄的变化而变化。该项目的总体目标是更好地了解调查测量误差的性质及其产生过程，并就调查问题的特征提出实用建议，以提高老龄化人口调查数据的质量。为了实现这些目标，研究使用几个具有全国代表性的面板数据集对调查问题的回答进行了系统的可靠性分析。首先，我们基于之前nsf支持的研究，使用了全国选举研究（NES）系列中的三个调查——1956-58-60年、1972-74-76年和1992-94-96年美国选民的小组研究，以及第四个小组调查，1986-89-94年美国人改变生活（ACL）健康和福祉研究，以年龄为基础，控制教育，检验可靠性。其次，我们采用两项创新的中老年人小组调查来研究这些问题：1992年对51-61岁的退休前男性和女性进行的健康与退休研究（HRS）小组研究（n=9,824），并于1994年、1996年、1998年和2000年进行了再访谈；1993年对70岁及以上的成年人进行了资产与健康动力学平行研究（AHEAD），并于1995年、1998年和2000年进行了再访谈（n= 7,447）。年轻的HRS（1931-41年出生队列）和年长的AHEAD（1923年及之前出生队列）受访者被问及许多相同的问题，允许跨组测量误差的比较。将使用各种最先进的估计策略估计约1,000个调查问题的年龄特定信度水平。可靠性估计将采用两种基本方法——首先是基于sem的最大似然方法，用于假设连续的未观察到的潜在变量是有意义的情况，其次是“潜在转移”模型，适用于未观察到的潜在变量是潜在类的情况。在SEM方法中，研究将根据观察数据的尺度假设采用几种不同的估计策略，包括连续变量的基于标准pearson的协方差方法，二分类变量的四次相关方法和有序变量的基于多周期的加权最小二乘估计的渐近协方差方法。分析的一个主要重点是调查问题的形式属性（例如，问题内容、问题文本长度、回答选项的数量和复杂性，以及明确的“不知道”回答选项的提供）对可靠性影响的年龄相关差异。从这些数据源收集有关可靠性的信息有助于提高对调查数据优缺点的认识。本研究的结果将有助于揭示调查中与年龄相关的测量误差的来源，并通过应用这些知识来改进整个生命周期的调查数据收集方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This research investigates the relationship of age to measurement errors in survey-administered self-report questionnaires. The focus of the research is on the survey interview as a method of gathering social data, and the extent to which measurement errors assessed in such interviews vary as a function of the respondent's age. The overall aims of this project are to better understand the nature of survey measurement errors and the processes by which they are generated, and to make practical recommendations about the characteristics of survey questions that will improve the quality of data in surveys of the aging population. To accomplish these goals the research conducts a systematic analysis of the reliability of responses to survey questions using several nationally representative panel data sets. First, we build upon our prior NSF-supported research using three surveys from the National Election Study (NES) series -- the 1956-58-60, 1972-74-76, and 1992-94-96 panel studies of the American electorate, and a fourth panel survey, the 1986-89-94 Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) study of health and well-being, to examine reliability by age, controlling for education. Second, we investigate these issues using two innovative panel surveys of middle-aged and older adults: the original Health & Retirement Study (HRS) panel study of preretirement men and women aged 51-61 assessed in 1992 (n=9,824), and reinterviewed in 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000, and the parallel study of Asset and Health Dynamics (AHEAD) which interviewed adults aged 70 and above in 1993, and reinterviewed them in 1995, 1998 and 2000 (n= 7,447). The younger HRS (birth cohorts of 1931-41) and older AHEAD (birth cohorts of 1923 and before) respondents were asked many of the same questions, permitting the comparison of measurement errors across groups. Age-specific levels of reliability will be estimated for approximately 1,000 survey questions using a variety of state-of-the-art estimation strategies. Two basic approaches will be employed in the estimation of reliability- first the SEM-based maximum-likelihood approach for situations where it makes sense to assume continuous unobserved latent variables, and second the "latent transition" models that are appropriate where the unobserved latent variables are latent classes. Within the SEM approach the research will empoy several different estimation strategies depending on the scale assumptions appropriate to the observed data, including standard Pearson-based covariance approaches for continuous variables, tetrachoric correlations for dichotomous variables and polychoric-based asymptotic covariance approach with weighted least squares estimation for ordinal variables. A major focus of the analysis is on age-related differences in the impact of the formal properties of survey questions (e.g., question content, length of question text, number and complexity of response options, and the provision of explicit "Don't Know" response options) on reliability. Assembling information on reliability from these data sources can help improve knowledge about the strengths and weaknesses of survey data. It is expected that the results of this research will be relevant to the general task of uncovering the sources of age-related measurement errors in surveys and the improvement of methods of survey data collection across the life span through the application of this knowledge.