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Alcohol Consumption Survey Example
A study on alcohol consumption by Lahaut and colleagues illustrates the danger of non-response bias. After receiving responses from only about half of their mail survey sample, the researchers conducted unannounced home visits to the non-responders. They discovered that these original non-responders included a high proportion of abstainers. If the researchers had relied solely on the original responders, their estimates of alcohol consumption would have been artificially inflated.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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Alcohol Consumption Survey Example
Minimizing Non-response Bias
Which of the following best defines non-response bias in a research survey?
Non-response bias only affects studies that fail to use random sampling initially, as a carefully randomized starting sample guarantees accurate conclusions regardless of who actually completes the survey.
A research team uses random sampling to select participants for various studies but encounters high non-response rates. Match each scenario to the way non-response bias is most likely to systematically skew that study's conclusions.
A social psychologist is conducting a survey on 'community trust' in a large city. Sequence the following events to demonstrate the analytical process by which non-response bias leads to a failure in external validity.
Statistical Correction for Non-response Bias
Match each research concept with the description that best defines its role in survey methodology.
A researcher conducts a survey using a random sample but observes a low response rate of only . Which of the following conditions would prevent this low response rate from resulting in non-response bias?
A research team concludes that 'substance abuse is extremely rare' among college students after finding that only of survey respondents admitted to frequent drug use. If students who engage in heavy substance use were systematically less likely to return the survey due to privacy concerns, the team's final evaluation of the problem's severity is a(n) _____ of the true prevalence.
A researcher uses random-digit dialing to select a sample of 1,000 citizens for a survey on community safety. Since the researcher used careful random sampling to generate the initial list, the study's results will not suffer from non-response bias even if 60% of the selected citizens decline to answer the phone.
A research team analyzes the results of a mail-in survey on exercise habits and finds that individuals who regularly work out responded at a 90% rate, whereas sedentary individuals responded at a 10% rate. Because the individuals who chose not to participate differ systematically from those who did, the survey results are compromised by a specific type of sampling bias called _____.
A psychologist is evaluating a completed survey study's internal and external validity. Order the sequence of events showing how non-response bias systematically compromises the researcher's final conclusions, starting from the initial sampling stage.
Learn After
In a study on alcohol consumption that used a mail survey, researchers followed up with non-responders through unannounced home visits and discovered that these non-responders included a disproportionately high number of people who abstained from alcohol.
In the study by Lahaut and colleagues regarding alcohol consumption, researchers conducted unannounced home visits to individuals who did not respond to their initial mail survey. Which of the following best explains why this follow-up was necessary for the validity of the study?
To investigate the potential for misleading results in the alcohol consumption survey conducted by Lahaut and colleagues, in what order should the following methodological steps be sequenced to accurately detect and confirm data distortion?
Analyze the relationship between participant behavior and data validity in the Lahaut and colleagues alcohol consumption study by matching each component to its specific role in creating or identifying research bias.
In the study of alcohol consumption by Lahaut and colleagues, approximately what percentage of the participants initially returned the mail survey before researchers began conducting home visits?
True or False: In the study by Lahaut and colleagues, the alcohol consumption habits of the individuals who returned the mail survey were found to be representative of the habits of those who did not respond.
Apply your understanding of non-response bias by matching each element from the Lahaut et al. alcohol consumption study to the specific role it played in the research.
When Lahaut and colleagues compared their original mail survey responders with the non-responders contacted through home visits, they found that the non-responders included a disproportionately high number of _____. This systematic difference is the core reason the original survey data overestimated alcohol consumption in the population, because the very group most likely to pull the average down was underrepresented among those who initially responded.
A researcher wants to evaluate whether non-response bias has materially compromised the validity of a completed survey study (such as the Lahaut et al. alcohol consumption study). Arrange the following evaluative steps in the order that best reflects sound critical appraisal of the study.
In a study of alcohol consumption patterns, researchers found that non-responders were much more likely to be abstainers than those who responded. If the researchers had ignored the non-responders and published only the data from the responders, a critical evaluation of their results would show that their final estimate of community alcohol use was _____.
Describe the methodology used by Lahaut and colleagues to address the potential for non-response bias in their mail survey on alcohol consumption, and recall the specific findings that resulted from this investigation.
Based on your understanding of non-response bias and the findings of Lahaut and colleagues, diagnose the methodological flaw in the project director's suggestion and justify why immediately publishing these results could lead to invalid conclusions.
How can a researcher apply the methodological approach used by Lahaut and colleagues to evaluate whether non-response bias is present in a survey study?