Aging and the Reliability of Survey Data

调查数据的老化和可靠性

• 批准号: 6580855
• 负责人: Duane F Alwin
• 金额: $ 45.26万
• 依托单位: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-02-15 至 2006-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6580855
• 关键词: age difference; aging; behavioral /social science research tag; clinical research; data collection methodology /evaluation; health surveys; human data; human middle age (35-64); human old age (65+); questionnaires; sociometry; statistics /biometry

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.

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究调查了年龄与调查管理的自我报告问卷中测量误差的关系。研究的重点是调查访谈作为一种收集社会数据的方法，以及在这种访谈中评估的测量误差随受访者年龄的变化而变化的程度。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，并就调查问题的特点提出切实可行的建议，以提高老龄人口调查的数据质量。为了实现这些目标，本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的可靠性进行了系统分析。首先，我们建立在我们以前的NSF支持的研究，使用三个调查，从全国选举研究（内斯）系列-1956-58-60，1972-74-76，和1992-94-96面板研究的美国选民，和第四个面板调查，1986-89-94美国人的生活变化（ACL）研究的健康和福祉，以年龄来检验可靠性，控制教育程度。其次，我们使用两项针对中年和老年人的创新小组调查来调查这些问题：最初的健康与退休研究（HRS）小组研究在1992年对51-61岁的退休前男性和女性进行了评估（n= 9，824），并在1994年，1996年，1998年和2000年进行了重新采访，资产和健康动态（AHEAD）的平行研究，1993年采访了70岁及以上的成年人，并在1995年，1998年和2000年再次采访了他们（n= 7，447）。年轻的HRS（1931-41年的出生队列）和年长的AHEAD（1923年及之前的出生队列）受访者被问到许多相同的问题，从而可以比较各组之间的测量误差。将使用各种最先进的估计策略，对大约1，000个调查问题的特定企业可靠性水平进行估计。两个基本的方法将采用在可靠性的估计-第一个基于SEM的最大似然方法的情况下，它是有意义的，假设连续的未观察到的潜在变量，第二个“潜在的过渡”模型，是适当的未观察到的潜在变量是潜在的类。在SEM方法中，本研究将采用几种不同的估计策略，这取决于与观测数据相适应的尺度假设，包括连续变量的标准Pearson协方差方法，二分法变量的四分相关性和有序变量的加权最小二乘估计的基于多色的渐近协方差方法。分析的一个主要重点是与年龄有关的差异，在影响的正式性质的调查问题（例如，问题内容、问题文本的长度、回答选项的数量和复杂性，以及提供明确的“不知道”回答选项）对可靠性的影响。从这些数据来源收集关于可靠性的信息，有助于增进对调查数据的长处和短处的了解。预计这项研究的结果将与揭示调查中与年龄有关的测量误差的来源以及通过应用这一知识改进整个生命周期的调查数据收集方法的一般任务有关。