Aging and the Reliability of Survey Data

超出提供的空间。本研究探讨年龄与自填式问卷测量误差的关系。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，以提高老龄化人口调查的数据质量。为了实现这些目标，该研究使用几个具有全国代表性的小组数据集对调查问题的回答的可靠性进行了系统的分析。首先，我们在之前NSF支持的研究的基础上，使用国家选举研究(NES)系列中的三项调查--1956-58-60、1972-74-76和1992-94-96年的美国选民小组研究，以及第四次小组调查--1986-89-94美国人改变生活(ACL)健康和幸福感研究--检验年龄的可靠性，并控制教育因素。其次，我们使用两个针对中老年人的创新小组调查来研究这些问题：最初的健康与退休研究小组研究(HRS)小组研究，年龄在51-61岁之间，于1992年进行评估(n=9824)，并于1994年、1996年、1998年和2000年重新采访；以及资产与健康动力学平行研究(AHEAD)，它在1993年访问了70岁及以上的成年人，并在1995年、1998年和2000年重新访问了他们(n=7,447)。年轻的HRS(1931-41年出生的队列)和年长的HRS(1923年及之前的出生队列)的受访者被问到许多相同的问题，允许跨组比较测量误差。将使用各种最先进的估计策略对大约1,000个调查问题的特定年龄可靠性水平进行估计。在可靠性估计中将使用两种基本方法-第一种是基于结构方程的最大似然方法，适用于假设连续的未观察到的潜在变量的情况；第二种是适用于未观察到的潜在变量是潜在类的情况下的“潜在转变”模型。在结构方程方法中，研究将根据适合观测数据的尺度假设，采用几种不同的估计策略，包括连续变量的标准皮尔逊协方差方法，二分变量的四次相关方法，以及序数变量的加权最小二乘估计的多项式渐近协方差方法。分析的一个主要重点是调查问题的正式性质(例如，问题内容、问题文本长度、回答选项的数量和复杂性，以及提供明确的“不知道”回答选项)对可靠性的影响方面与年龄有关的差异。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的优势和劣势的了解。预计这项研究的结果将与发现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调查数据收集方法的一般任务有关。表演网站========================================Section End===========================================

EXCEED THE SPACE PROVIDED. 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. PERFORMANCE SITE ========================================Section End===========================================