Michael Elliott, 2010 Section Program Chair, and Paul Beatty, 2011 Section Program Chair
The Survey Research Methods Section (SRMS) will primarily sponsor seven invited sessions, 18 topic-contributed sessions, 23 contributed sessions, and six roundtables.
Invited session topics include missing data, small-area estimation, the use of paradata, and planning for the 2020 Census. Highlights from the topic-contributed and contributed program include sessions on federal survey issues (e.g., record linkage at the U.S. Census Bureau, estimating farms at the Department of Agriculture, and counting workplace injuries at the Bureau of Labor Statistics), design (e.g., two-phase data collection and addressed-based sampling), analyzing data from multi-mode surveys, small-area estimation, and novel weighting methodologies. There are also two sessions in honor of Rod Little’s 60th birthday that will focus on missing data and survey methodology.
The SRMS poster session will take place on August 2. For the third year in a row, prizes will be awarded for the best posters. There also will be several students presenting in the student paper competition that is jointly sponsored by the Social Statistics and Government Statistics sections on August 5. Finally, the SRMS committee meeting will take place on August 4.
Speaker Luncheons and Roundtables
Speaker luncheons and roundtables provide an opportunity to learn about a new topic and meet others with similar interests in a relaxed setting. Tickets must be purchased 24 hours before the event, although they do sell out early, so register as soon as possible. A.M. roundtables are $15; P.M. roundtables and speaker luncheons are $40. SRMS will sponsor the following:
August 2, 7:00 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.
Cell Phone Surveying in the United States: An Update from a 2010 AAPOR Task Force, led by Paul J. Lavrakas, Independent Contractor
Conducting representative telephone surveys of the general public in the United States has become challenging in the past five years because of the growing prevalence of cell phone–only and cell phone–mostly households—now estimated to constitute more than 40% of all U.S. households. The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) reconstituted its Cell Phone Surveying Task Force and will issue the 2010 task force report in May. This discussion will be led by the chair of the AAPOR task force. Topics of discussion will include challenges related to sampling and coverage, nonresponse, measurement, weighting, legal and ethical issues, operations, and costs.
August 2, 12:30 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.
Incorporating and Managing Paradata into Survey Operations for Quality Control and Cost Containment, led by Cheryl Landman and Andrea Piani of the U.S. Census Bureau
Managing survey operations in an electronic environment provides opportunities and challenges. One such opportunity is the potential to collect paradata, or measures of survey progress, costs, and quality. This roundtable will focus on building real-time systems to manage these performance indicators. Key questions to be considered include the following: What paradata are being collected and used in “real time”? How are these data being used? What technologies are being used for building, displaying, and monitoring paradata? What is the development process? Are these built on a database or streamed from multiple sources? In addition, we would like to discuss the potential for more sophisticated displays of paradata during data collection that might facilitate quick decisions during the data-collection ativan online overnight period, potentially including changes to questionnaires, samples, modes, or interviewing methods.
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