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Source: Center for Survey Research, Mannheim, Germany
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Smith, Herbert L.
Dechter, Aimee R.
Effects of Nonresponse on the Measurement of Social Life Feelings
In: Relevance of Attitude Measurement in Sociology. P. Schmidt and D. Krebs, eds. Mannheim, Germany: Center for Survey Research, 1990
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: Center for Survey Research and Methodology, Mannheim, Germany (ZUMA)
Keyword(s): Data Quality/Consistency; Internal-External Attitude; Locus of Control (see Rotter Scale); Nonresponse; Research Methodology; Rotter Scale (see Locus of Control)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The problem of survey non-response is particularly troublesome in the measurement of social life feelings since the refusal to participate in a study may be one manifestation of certain attitudes and sentiments. This paper examines the relationship between social life feelings reports and subsequent non-response. Employing data from the 1968-85 waves of the NLS Young Women, the authors focus on the 1970, 1973, and 1978 responses to a modified eleven item version of the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and the 1983 responses to four of the items capturing personal control. In an analysis of the association (ANOAS) between 1970 item responses (item non-response, mostly internal, somewhat internal, somewhat external, mostly external) and 1973 outcomes (refusal, other non-interview, item non-response, and the four locus of control scales), subjects who responded to the 1973 survey but not to a given item, scored very low in the cooperativeness dimension. Refusals scaled somewhere in between those with item non-response and those who responded to the item regardless of the proffered response. It is reassuring that along the locus of control dimension, refusing to be re-interviewed, being lost to follow-up for some other reason, and refusing or being unable to respond to a Rotter item are not associated with the scaling on locus of control in the previous interview. Of course, the possibility remains that non-respondents are more likely to shift their feelings one way or the other relative to those who were re-interviewed.
Bibliography Citation
Smith, Herbert L. and Aimee R. Dechter. "Effects of Nonresponse on the Measurement of Social Life Feelings" In: Relevance of Attitude Measurement in Sociology. P. Schmidt and D. Krebs, eds. Mannheim, Germany: Center for Survey Research, 1990