1 Mobile Phone Surveys : The Slovenian Case Study (original) (raw)
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Mobile Phone Surveys: The Slovenian Case Study
In 2004, the number of mobile phone subscriptions in Slovenia reached the total number of inhabitants. Consequently, the fixed telephone coverage has started to decline; almost 10% of households are now available only over the mobile phone. With this, Slovenia positions itself as a typical EU country and can serve as a case study for issues related to mobile phone interview surveys.
Survey Methods: Insights from the Field, 2013
With the decrease of landline phones in the last decade, telephone survey methodologists face a new challenge to overcome coverage bias. In this study we investigate coverage error for telephone surveys in Europe over time and compare two situations: classical surveys that rely on landline only with surveys that also include mobile phones. We analyzed Eurobarometer data, which are collected by means of face-to-face interviews and contain information on ownership of landline and mobile phones. We show that for the period 2000-2009, time has a significant effect on both mobile phone penetration and coverage bias. In addition, the countries’ development significantly affects the pace of these changes.
2004
The increase in mobile phone ownership is changing the sampling frame for landline telephone surveys, with a consequent impact on coverage error. This paper describes the main features of the Italian phone market -characterized by high mobile phone penetration ratesand the rising impact of mobile-phone-only (MPO) households. A survey that uses a landline sampling frame excludes MPO and no-phone households, creating a noncoverage rate of 17% in 2002. Types of phone arrangements and noncoverage vary dramatically among households: by region, household type, age, education and social class of the household. All these differences clearly introduce a non-ignorable bias in landline telephone surveys. Possible solutions are discussed from a methodological perspective. The analysis presented uses data collected in a face-to-face survey by the Italian Institute of Statistics.
Quality & Quantity, 2012
The continuously growing mobile-only population raises concerns regarding the representativeness of traditional landline telephone surveys. At this time, the mobile-only population differs significantly from general population, which leads to coverage bias when using fixed-line samples only for telephone surveys. However, in many European countries the mobile-only population is not the only source of coverage bias in telephone surveys. In addition, we have to consider coverage biases caused by considerable proportions of citizens without any telephone service. Since these two groups differ from the general population with respect to differential socio-demographic categories, in our view, the negative effects of mobile-only coverage error in traditional landline telephone surveys might in fact compensate-in part-for coverage bias caused by the no-phone population. To test this hypothesis of compensating coverage biases we calculated relative coverage biases caused by the mobile-only population and relative coverage biases caused by the no-phone population in 30 European countries for two socio-demographic variables in two points in time. Results are presented for four groups of countries that differ with respect to no-phone and mobile-only rates. Results suggest that-in general-mobile-only biases and no-phone biases do not compensate to a great extent, and thus the alarming mobile-only biases cannot be neglected when using telephone surveys in the estimation of population parameters. Nevertheless, there are several countries where the bias caused by the mobile-only population is far bigger than the joint bias caused by the mobile-only population and the no-phone population. This finding suggests that biases caused by the recent mobile-only population would be even more severe if the no-phone population did not exist.
Journal of The Royal Statistical Society Series A-statistics in Society, 2007
Summary. Using mobile phones to conduct survey interviews has gathered momentum recently. However, using mobile telephones in surveys poses many new challenges. One important challenge involves properly classifying final case dispositions to understand response rates and non-response error and to implement responsive survey designs. Both purposes demand accurate assessments of the outcomes of individual call attempts. By looking at actual practices across three countries, we suggest how the disposition codes of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, which have been developed for telephone surveys, can be modified to fit mobile phones. Adding an international dimension to these standard definitions will improve survey methods by making systematic comparisons across different contexts possible.
Using mobile phones for survey research: a comparison with fixed phones
International Journal of Market Research, 2009
The increase in mobile phone penetration is stimulating a trend towards the use of mobile phones to supplement or even replace traditional telephone surveys. Despite this trend, few studies have systematically compared differences between the two modes. This paper describes a study in which both mobile and fixed phones were used to collect data on a national survey on internet and cultural practices. Findings revealed significant differences between mobile phone respondents and fixed phone respondents in terms of demographic characteristics and responses to some of the substantive items of the survey. In terms of data quality the mobile phone survey proved to be different from the fixed phone survey in two indicators: completion times and percentage of respondents with item omissions. The mobile phone survey was more difficult to implement than the fixed phone survey since much more screening was required to identify working phone numbers; in addition it yielded a lower response rate than the fixed phone survey.
Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research, 2013
The rise and fall of social research methods rely on how much a certain method is able to appropriately reflect the change of society. The present research proposes new mobile surveying methods, considering the current and future trends in Korea. In particular, this research focuses on environmental pressure (time constraints, the presence of others and the place) as one of the major factors influencing the effects of survey modes. For example, landline surveys are conducted in the respondent's home, which is a private and fixed space. On the other hand, surveys on mobile phones can be conducted in diverse places with other people around. After sampling 500 landline respondents and 500 mobile phone respondents using a quota method, the same questionnaire was used for both the mobile and landline interviews. The findings are generally consistent with the literature supporting the data quality and comparability of the mixed mode survey. These results are encouraging for researchers designing surveys that feature mobile phone data collection.
Telephone household non-coverage and mobile telephones
2002
Two-stage RDD sample designs devised by Mitofsky (1970) and Waksberg (1978) contributed to the widespread of telephone surveys. But coverage of the telephone household population is seldom complete, varies across countires, and changes over time. Several studies have examined coverage properties of telephone surveys, including Collins (1987) who dealt with the non-coverage in the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), Canada and other countries.
Telephone Survey Response: Effects of Cell Phones in Landline Households
Understanding the evolving role of cell phones in how people communicate every day is one of the fundamental challenges facing survey researchers as the popularity of cell phones in the United States continues to grow. While the increase in cell-phone-only households (which doubled from 2.8% in 2003 to 5.5% in 2004, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study) is a major concern, a host of questions remains about how the use of cell phones even in households with landlines can affect telephone surveys. Using data from the South Carolina State Survey, this research (1) examines the level of effort required to reach landline-only households versus those with both a landline and a cell phone, (2) compares the demographic profiles of households with and without cell phones, and (3) assesses the likelihood that respondents will give up their landline phone for exclusive cell phone use. The findings further our understanding of how cell phone technology, even in...