While scales measuring subjective constructs historically rely on agree-disagree (AD) questions, recent research demonstrates that construct-specific (CS) questions clarify underlying response dimensions that AD questions leave implicit and CS questions often yield higher measures of data quality.
Research
Publications from staff, webinar presentations, or talks given
Measuring Trust in Medical Researchers: Adding Insights from Cognitive Interviews to Examine Agree-Disagree and Construct-Specific Survey Questions
New UWSC study supports recommendations not to use householder’s names in mail surveys with address-based samples
While best practices in mail survey design advise personalizing correspondence, most research predates the use of address-based sampling (ABS) in which a householder’s name either cannot be matched to an address or may be matched incorrectly.
Wave 3 of CalYOUTH Study Final Report Released
In 2017, UWSC conducted Wave 3 of the CalYOUTH study, surveying 616 21-year-old youth. This study follows up on surveys of the same young people when they were approaching the age of majority in California’s foster care system at age 17 and again when they were 19 years old. Similar to Waves 1 and 2, the study collected data on a wide range of youth outcomes in in areas such as physical and mental health, education and employment, and relationships and families.
Response option order and scale orientation effects on the web-based measurement of self-rated health
While self-rated health (SRH) is widely used to study health across a range of disciplines, little research examines how features of its measurement in surveys influence respondents’ answers and the overall quality of the resulting measurement. To address these shortcomings, UWSC researchers and Dana Garbarski (Loyola University Chicago) examined how response option order and scale orientation affect responses in an online experiment.
Jinyi Lan presents at the 20th Undergraduate Symposium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Undergraduate Research Scholar Jinyi (“Lan”) Lan presented at the 20th Undergraduate Symposium, a showcase for undergraduate research and achievement across disciplines at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
New Findings Suggest Straightlining Behavior is Stable across Mail and Web Forms of Self-Administration
Researchers are increasingly turning to web and mail/web mixed-mode designs to combat rising costs and declining response rates. However, little research examines whether the two forms of self-administration lead to mode effects — differences in …
Recent findings from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study show interviewers’ ratings of respondents’ health predict respondents’ mortality over a 3-year follow-up
Recent research indicates survey interviewers’ ratings of respondents’ health may provide important information about the health of respondents in surveys of older adults. Although these ratings are promising, little is known about what information interviewers …
Unpacking What Participants Think About When They Rate Their Health
Self-rated health — “Would you say your health in general is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor?”— is one of the most widely used measures of health because of its ability to predict morbidity and mortality. Yet it is unclear what underlies health ratings.
UWSC contributes to research on the effects on families of unsuccessful organ donation attempts at the time of death
On behalf of a University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health research team headed by vascular surgeon and medical ethicist Dr. Margaret (Gretchen) Schwarze, UWSC senior project director Ken Croes conducted in-depth interviews …