The Mode is the Message: Using Predata as Exclusion Restrictions to Evaluate Survey Design
Essays in Honor of Cheng Hsiao
ISBN: 978-1-78973-958-9, eISBN: 978-1-78973-957-2
Publication date: 15 April 2020
Abstract
The authors consider how the mode of data collection (Internet vs. paper) alters individuals’ responses to different types of survey questions, including subjective, recall, and factual questions. The authors isolate the measurement effect of the mode from the sample selection effect by exploiting predata in a convenience consumer panel. The authors propose using panelists’ reward point balance as exclusion restriction to correct for differing response probabilities by mode, because the reward point balance depends on the timing of the survey invitations and is a source of random variation in response incentive. The authors evaluate average and quantile measurement effects in a mixed-mode Web/paper survey and find statistically significant evidence of mode effects in subjective and recall questions.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
We thank Kim P. Huynh, Valery Dongmo Jiongo, and Tymon Słoczyński for helpful comments. We also thank participants of the Bank of Canada Microeconometrics Workshop, Emory University, and Carleton University for helpful comments and suggestions. The views expressed in this chapter are solely those of the authors and may differ from official Bank of Canada views. No responsibility for them should be attributed to the bank. All errors are our own.
Citation
Chen, H., Dunbar, G. and Shen, Q.R. (2020), "The Mode is the Message: Using Predata as Exclusion Restrictions to Evaluate Survey Design", Li, T., Pesaran, M.H. and Terrell, D. (Ed.) Essays in Honor of Cheng Hsiao (Advances in Econometrics, Vol. 41), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 341-357. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0731-905320200000041012
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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