Non-response bias

Non-response bias occurs in statistical surveys if the answers of respondents differ from the potential answers of those who did not answer.

Example

If one selects a sample of 1000 managers in a field and polls them about their workload, the managers with a high workload may not answer the survey because they do not have enough time to answer it, and/or those with a low workload may decline to respond for fear that their supervisors or colleagues will perceive them as unnecessary (either immediately, if the survey is non-anonymous, or in the future, should their anonymity be compromised by collusion, "leaks," insufficient procedural precautions, or data-security breaches). Therefore, non-response bias may make the measured value for the workload too low, too high, or, if the effects of the above biases happen to offset each other, "right for the wrong reasons."

Test

There are different ways to test for non-response bias. In e-mail surveys some values are already known from all potential participants (e.g. age, branch of the firm, ...) and can be compared to the values that prevail in the subgroup of those who answered. If there is no significant difference this is an indicator that there might be no non-response bias.

In e-mail surveys those who didn't answer can also systematically be phoned and a small number of survey questions can be asked. If their answers don't differ significantly from those who answered the survey, there might be no non-response bias.

Related terminology

Response bias is not the opposite of "non-response bias" but instead relates to a possible tendency of respondents to give an answer a) of which they believe that the questioner, or society in general, might approve or b) that they perceive would help yield a result that would tend to promote some desired goal of their own.

See also

• Total survey error

This statistics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Survey methodology Psychometrics Research methods Quantitative research Evaluation methods Data collection Sampling (statistics) Bias Statistics stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую Non-resident Oriya Non-restrictive clause Look at other dictionaries: Response bias — is a type of cognitive bias which can affect the results of a statistical survey if respondents answer questions in the way they think the questioner wants them to answer rather than according to their true beliefs. This may occur if the… …   Wikipedia non-response — The proportion of people among those invited to participate in a non compulsory interview survey , or other study, who choose not to take part or are unobtainable for other reasons. Non response covers all causes of non participation: refusals;… …   Dictionary of sociology Response Set — Verzerrung oder Antwortverzerrung ist eine Art von Fehler in einer Erhebung und eine Systematische Verzerrung. Sie bezeichnet in der Empirie das Phänomen, dass bei Meinungsumfragen häufig nicht die tatsächlichen Einstellungen (= wahrer Wert)… …   Deutsch Wikipedia Response set — Verzerrung oder Antwortverzerrung ist eine Art von Fehler in einer Erhebung und eine Systematische Verzerrung. Sie bezeichnet in der Empirie das Phänomen, dass bei Meinungsumfragen häufig nicht die tatsächlichen Einstellungen (= wahrer Wert)… …   Deutsch Wikipedia bias — See interview bias ; interviewer bias ; non response ; objective ; observer bias ; prejudice ; sample selection bias ; sampling error …   Dictionary of sociology error (sampling and non-sampling) — There are many sources of inaccuracy, or error, in a survey. Sampling error consists of bias in sample selection procedures, plus random sampling error. Non response bias can be measured and analysed after interviewing is completed. There is… …   Dictionary of sociology Non sequitur (logic) — Non sequitur (Latin for it does not follow ), in formal logic, is an argument in which its conclusion does not follow from its premises.[1] In a non sequitur, the conclusion could be either true or false, but the argument is fallacious because… …   Wikipedia Non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War — …   Wikipedia Non-monotonic logic — A non monotonic logic is a formal logic whose consequence relation is not monotonic. Most studied formal logics have a monotonic consequence relation, meaning that adding a formula to a theory never produces a reduction of its set of consequences …   Wikipedia Confirmation bias — (also called confirmatory bias or myside bias) is a tendency for people to favor information that confirms their preconceptions or hypotheses regardless of whether the information is true.[Note 1][1] As a result, people gather evidence and recall …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”