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The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION : Applications of Event History and Panel Analysis<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Nicoletta Balbo n.f.g.balbo@rug.nl<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Groningen; Dondena Centre, Bocconi <strong>University</strong><br />
Hans Dietrich hans.dietrich@iab.de<br />
Institute for Employment Research<br />
Isabel Haeberling haeberling@soziologie.uzh.ch<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Zurich, Institute of Sociology<br />
Dimitris Pavlopoulos d.pavlopoulos@vu.nl<br />
VU Amsterdam
Author and presenter<br />
Balbo, Nicoletta; <strong>University</strong> of Groningen; Dondena Centre, Bocconi <strong>University</strong><br />
Title<br />
Does fertility behavior spread among friends?<br />
Abstract<br />
Social interaction theories in fertility research (Montgomery & Casterline<br />
1996; Kohler 2001) give evidence that an individual’s fertility decision-making is<br />
not only driven by his or her own characteristics or contextual factors, but also<br />
influenced by the behavior of people whom that individual interacts with.<br />
Previous studies on fertility in developed countries focus on socialization<br />
processes that operate through the transmission of fertility attitudes from<br />
parents to children (Barber, 2000), or through intra-family interactions,<br />
especially between siblings (Lyngstad & Prskawetz, 2010). However,<br />
socialization does not only occur within the kinship network, but also outside it,<br />
through social interaction with peers and friends. Therefore the aim of this paper<br />
is to investigate whether and how friends’ fertility behaviour affects an<br />
individual’s transition to parenthood, making use of a model specification that<br />
allows to properly identify interaction effects and distinguish them from any<br />
selection and contextual effect. Indeed, lack of research on this topic mainly<br />
rests with the difficulty to model social interaction (Manski, 1993). The<br />
contribution of this study is twofold: 1) extending research on the effect of social<br />
interaction on fertility outside the family network; 2) proposing an innovative<br />
way to deal with endogeneity issues, typical of social interaction processes.<br />
Using the 4 waves of the Add Health data, we engage in a series of discrete time<br />
event history models with random effect at the dyadic level. In order to<br />
investigate the effect of a friend’s childbearing on an individual’s risk of<br />
becoming a parent, we include in our sample 8,905 dyads of women friends,<br />
that we follow during their young adulthood (from the age of 15 till around age<br />
30). In a dyad-month file, assuming that each dyad is independent, we set as<br />
dependent variable a dummy that takes on value 1 when the first friend of the<br />
dyad gives birth, 0 in the other months. To measure cross-friend effects, we<br />
include a time-varying variable indicating when the other friend of the dyad had<br />
a child.
Friendships under study were formed when adolescents were around 12 (Wave<br />
I), so we assume their formation is exogenous to the decision to have a child. At<br />
Wave III, each respondent had to indicate from a list of 10 previous school<br />
mates and friends (at Wave I), those who are current friends and those who are<br />
not. In this way, we can distinguish dyads of friends from those of people who<br />
simply share a common social context (they went to school together). By<br />
including these two types of ties in our analysis, we can separate true cross-<br />
friend interaction from contextual effects. Moreover, to distinguish selection from<br />
influence (people might remain friends with those who share similar family<br />
attitudes), we engage in a simultaneous equation model, in which we estimate<br />
together the probability of being current friend with the other person in the<br />
dyad, and one friend’s risk of becoming parents, using as exclusion restriction<br />
the geographical distance between the two friends.<br />
Results show that net of contextual and selection effects, a friend’s childbearing<br />
positively influences an individual’s risk of becoming a parent. We find this effect<br />
being strong in the short-term and inverse U-shaped: it increases and starts to<br />
become significant one year after the friend’s childbearing, it reaches its peak<br />
24-36 months later and then decreases.
Presenter<br />
Dietrich, Hans; Institute for Employment Research<br />
Authors<br />
Hans Dietrich; Institute for Employment Research<br />
Anna Manzoni; Yale <strong>University</strong>; IAB/<strong>University</strong> Nürnberg<br />
Title<br />
The manifold effect of social background on youth unemployment outcome:<br />
unemployment outcome estimates using survey data and register data<br />
Abstract<br />
Previous research consistently found measurement error in retrospective<br />
data on unemployment. Ambivalent findings are reported towards the relation<br />
between unemployment reports and respondents socio-economic characteristics,<br />
depending on type of data compared, the complexity of the event structure or<br />
the distance between the occurrence of the event and the time of the report.<br />
However, only a few research findings are available about the effect of<br />
measurement error or competing measurements on model outcomes.<br />
In particular, we are substantially interested in the effect of social<br />
background on the labor market outcomes of the unemployed. Background<br />
related findings are reported both concerning the duration of unemployment and<br />
the transition out of unemployment. .However, we are also concerned with the<br />
extent of error in the report of unemployment. Using register based data on<br />
unemployment as reference (quasi gold standard), Dietrich described systematic<br />
effects of social background, level of education, school performance, and labor<br />
market status at the time of interview on individuals’ reporting of occurrence and<br />
duration of unemployment in retrospective survey data.<br />
However, we know from combined register data on employment and<br />
unemployment in German (IEB) that register data are vulnerable to<br />
measurement errors of register unemployment information, too. Our hypothesis<br />
is that social background works in a manifold way, affecting the report of<br />
unemployment episodes on the one hand, and labor market outcomes, such as<br />
the hazard of leaving unemployment on the other hand. We aim to disentangle
the interplay of social background effects on unemployment report and on the<br />
labor market outcomes of the unemployed.<br />
Two datasets:<br />
-The so-called Jugalo sample, a multi-wave-survey where 4000 German<br />
youths who were below 25 and registered as unemployed between 1998 and<br />
1999 were interviewed in the years 2000, 2001 and 2004. It delivers monthly<br />
information on educational and work biographies, as well as longitudinal<br />
information on household composition, social background and individual<br />
characteristics, like work orientation or mental health.<br />
-Official register information on unemployment, employment and active<br />
labour market scheme participation from the German Social-Security-System,<br />
containing longitudinal information about individuals labor market activities on a<br />
daily basis.<br />
Using an anonymized personal ID provided in both the datasets, we<br />
successfully match the two datasets on a monthly basis for 3,635 respondents.<br />
For our analysis we consider information for the first two waves of the Jugalo<br />
survey and constrain our analysis to the episodes of unemployment in 98/99<br />
from which the sample was generated, and their corresponding outcomes.<br />
Method: We first look descriptively at the timing and type of labor market<br />
episodes. Then we apply a latent Markov model, which allows us to account for<br />
measurement error. In particular, we relax the assumption that register based<br />
data work as a gold standard and account for correlated measurement error. We<br />
assume that individual characteristics and social background in particular, as<br />
well as the labor market state at the time of survey, affect both measurement<br />
error and labor market outcomes. Eventually, we use the estimates of the true<br />
(latent) unemployment state from the latent Markov model in a hazard model to<br />
predict the labor market outcome of interesinterest. The first findings support<br />
our hypothesis.
Author and presenter<br />
Haeberling, Isabel; <strong>University</strong> of Zurich, Institute of Sociology<br />
Title<br />
Children: statistically rare events. on the importance of using logistic regression<br />
for rare events data abstract<br />
Abstract<br />
“People have kids anyway” – This statement from the German statesman<br />
Konrad Adenauer in the 1950s holds no longer true. Only 10 out of 1000 persons<br />
started or expanded their families in Switzerland per year between 2002 and<br />
2009. This is what makes starting and/or enlarging a family a rare event – not<br />
only in a statistical sense. This research project explores the determinants of this<br />
rare event from a sociological and statistical perspective – using different<br />
statistical research methods and revealing inherent differences. Research<br />
focuses particularly on factors, which cause individuals to carry through the<br />
process of having a baby.<br />
Recent reports in the media on demographic topics, such as global aging,<br />
human beings as an endangered species, and worries about who is going to care<br />
for all the elderly in the future, in combination with the conflict of reconciling<br />
work and family life, have triggered public interest and concern; and there are<br />
also important implications for (family) policies. Therefore one has to analyze<br />
this topic carefully and using appropriate statistical methods. Basically, the<br />
majority of individuals show a general desire for children, which can easily be<br />
analyzed via conventional logistic regression. The precise intention to actually<br />
have a baby is much more uncommon but still does not have to be categorized<br />
as seldom – the use of conventional regression methods is adequate. Finally, the<br />
realization of desire and intention are rather rare events, a fact that points to an<br />
existing statistical problem that is widely ignored by scientists. Customary<br />
regression methods are no longer appropriate for analyzing this particular<br />
problem.<br />
Rare events are dependent variables with dozens to thousands of times<br />
fewer ones than zeros. Popular statistical procedures as conventional logistic<br />
regression can sharply underestimate the probability of already rare events.<br />
(King 2001) In addition, data collection strategies for rare events data are
greatly inefficient. Only very few events are surrounded by a very large amount<br />
of non events. These facts call for a method, which takes this rareness of the<br />
dependent variables into account. As a consequence, a logistic regression for<br />
rare events data has to be conducted to analyze the reasons for starting and<br />
expanding a family. King & Zeng (2001a; 2001b) developed a method that<br />
combines these two issues, enabling both types of corrections to work<br />
simultaneously.<br />
For the first time in the field of Swiss demography, a comparison of a<br />
conventional logistic regression and a logistic regression for rare events data is<br />
conducted. This helps to statistically explore and research the different<br />
structures and factors that influence fertility behavior. The results indicate the<br />
importance of using a logistic regression specifically designed for rare events<br />
data. This study examines the aforementioned comparison on the basis of the<br />
Swiss Household Panel (SHP) by way of statistical methods for rare events data<br />
and conventional logistic regression. In so doing, it reveals important<br />
background factors and motives for fertility behavior, which do not<br />
underestimate the event of having a baby. In terms of empirical considerations,<br />
a new dimension is developed.
Author and presenter<br />
Pavlopoulos, Dimitris; Free <strong>University</strong> Amsterdam; KUL - <strong>University</strong> of Leuven<br />
Title<br />
Temporary unemployment: a flexibility arrangement to overcome the crisis. A<br />
study using 2-way fixed effects<br />
Motivation<br />
Temporary unemployment is a flexibility arrangement that was applied in<br />
many countries to mitigate the employment effects of economic crisis. As, for<br />
some countries, this is a new policy tool, we know very little about the long-term<br />
effects of this policy measure. In Belgium, temporary unemployment has been in<br />
use for long. Therefore, we can use the Belgian experience to draw conclusions<br />
on the short-term and long-term effects of this flexibility arrangement.<br />
Aim<br />
This paper investigates the effect of temporary unemployment on the<br />
wage growth of workers in the Belgian labour market by controlling for both<br />
worker and firm effects. We study both the effect of present and past<br />
experiences of temporary unemployment on wages. Furthermore, we study<br />
whether this effect varies according to the age and the tenure of the worker as<br />
well as with the sector and the size of the firm. In this way, we study whether<br />
temporary unemployment has long-term scarring effects on the career of the<br />
workers.<br />
Method<br />
We apply a panel regression model with 2-way fixed effects. In the study<br />
of wages, the use of the usual mixed models is inappropriate as the observed<br />
individual characteristics are believed to be correlated with the unobserved<br />
individual characteristics. Therefore, to estimate a panel wage regression,<br />
economists typically apply a so-called fixed-effects model where they estimate<br />
the first differences or the differences from the individual mean. When matched<br />
employer-employee data is available, we can control for 2-way fixed effects –<br />
individual and firm unobserved characteristics . Following similar approaches in<br />
the literature, we include 2-way fixed effects by first-differencing on individual<br />
effects and then include dummies for the firms.
Data<br />
We use matched employer-employee longitudinal data for two samples of<br />
5,000 workers that are initially employed in 302 firms from the Datawarehouse<br />
of the Belgian Crossroadsbank for Social Security. The Datawarehouse offers<br />
employment information at the trimester-level and unemployment information at<br />
the monthly level. The first sample was selected in the first trimester of 1998<br />
and workers were followed until the last trimester of 2003. The second sample<br />
was initially selected in the first trimester of 2002 and workers were followed<br />
until the last trimester of 2007.<br />
Results<br />
Our results indicate that current experiences of temporary unemployment<br />
are associated with lower wages for workers that have been employed by the<br />
firm for more than 1.5 years. This effect is stronger for older workers. In<br />
contrast, for workers that have been employed for shorter periods, no effect of<br />
recent temporary unemployment is found. Past experiences of temporary<br />
unemployment are especially harmful for workers 25-30 years old. As in the<br />
case of recent experiences of temporary unemployment, this effect increases<br />
with tenure. For workers with long tenure in the firm, the length of past<br />
temporary unemployment matters as well. Specifically, for these workers, the<br />
longer they have been in temporary unemployment the last year the lower their<br />
wage is. In contrast, for workers older than 30, past experiences of temporary<br />
unemployment are not associated with the a lower wage. Therefore, it seems<br />
that temporary unemployment has some scarring effect on the career of young<br />
workers but is not harmful for the career of prime-age or older workers.
KEY NOTE SPEAKER<br />
Sijtsma, Klaas k.sijtsma@uvt.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Psychological Measurement Between Physics and Statistics - Klaas Sijtsma<br />
Abstract<br />
This contribution discusses the physical perspective on psychological<br />
measurement represented by additive conjoint measurement and the statistical<br />
perspective represented by item response theory, and argues that both fail to<br />
adequately address the real measurement problem in psychology: This is the<br />
absence of well-developed theories about psychological attributes. I argue that<br />
the two perspectives leave psychology out of the equation and by doing that<br />
come up with proposals for psychological measurement that are fruitless. Only<br />
the rigorous development of attribute theories can lead to meaningful<br />
measurement. I provide two examples of the measurement of well-developed<br />
attributes and suggest future directions for psychological measurement.
KEY NOTE SPEAKER<br />
Snijders, Tom A.B. Tom.Snijders@nuffield.ox.ac.uk<br />
Nuffield College<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Oxford<br />
Title<br />
Statistical models for dynamics of social networks: inference and applications<br />
Abstract<br />
The main issue for statistical modelling of social networks (represented<br />
mathematically mainly by directed graphs) is how to express the dependencies<br />
between the ties in the network. This is less complicated for longitudinally than<br />
for cross-sectionally observed networks, because the time-ordering assists in the<br />
representation of these dependencies. Stochastic actor-oriented models are a<br />
class of continuous-time Markov chain models for representing network<br />
dynamics. These models assume that the actors, represented by the nodes in<br />
the network, control their outgoing network ties, subject to inertia and<br />
contextual constraints, and with an element of randomness to represent the<br />
unpredictability of social behaviour. The transition distribution can depend in<br />
potentially complex ways on current network structure and monadic or dyadic<br />
covariates. Estimation procedures have been developed for such models using<br />
network panel data, i.e., repeated measures of the network collected at two or<br />
more discrete time points, according to the method of moments, the maximum<br />
likelihood principle, as well as Bayesian methods.<br />
The actor-oriented model is presented with an outline of the estimation<br />
procedures, and a review is given of some of the applications that have<br />
appeared in the literature.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION A: Categorical Marginal Models<br />
SUMMARY<br />
Introduction and applications of categorical marginal models<br />
Chair of this session: Andries van der Ark a.vdark@uvt.nl<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Jacques Hagenaars jacques.hagenaars@uvt.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Wicher Bergsma w.p.bergsma@lse.ac.uk<br />
Dept. of Statistics, London School of Economics and Political Science, U.K.<br />
Renske Kuijpers r.e.kuijpers@uvt.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Marcel Croon m.a.croon@uvt.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Presenter<br />
Hagenaars, Jacques A.P.; Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of<br />
Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Authors<br />
Jacques Hagenaars and Marcel Croon; <strong>Tilburg</strong> <strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands<br />
Wicher Bergsma; London School of Economics and Political Science, U.K<br />
Title<br />
Introduction to CMMs:<br />
Marginal Models for dependent, clustered and longitudinal categorical data.<br />
Abstract<br />
Dependent observations may arise in many research settings (e.g., in<br />
cluster, matched or longitudinal samples) or may arise in contexts where<br />
otherwise the observations are independent from each other, but where the<br />
research question ''makes' them dependent. Ignoring such dependencies and<br />
treating the observations as independent will distort the standard errors of the<br />
estimates but may also bias the estimates of the (effect) parameters. One<br />
solution is to model the dependencies, as in autocorrelation or random effect<br />
models. However,for many research questions marginal modeling is the best<br />
solution, in which the dependency is treated as a nuissance and the parameters<br />
of interest are estimated taking this nuissance into account (without modeling<br />
it). In this presentation, the emphasis will be on showing the potentialities of<br />
marginal models for answering many different types of important research<br />
questions.
Presenter<br />
Bergsma, Wicher; Dept. of Statistics, London School of Economics and Political<br />
Science<br />
Authors<br />
Wicher Bergsma; London School of Economics and Political Science, U.K<br />
Marcel Croon and Jacques Hagenaars; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral<br />
Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Marginal Models for Dependent, Clustered, and Longitudinal Categorical Data<br />
Abstract<br />
In the social, behavioural, educational, economic, and biomedical<br />
sciences, data are often collected in ways that introduce dependencies in the<br />
observations to be compared. For example, the same respondents are<br />
interviewed at several occasions, several members of networks or groups are<br />
interviewed within the same survey, or, within families, both children and<br />
parents are investigated. Statistical methods that take the dependencies in the<br />
data into account must then be used, e.g., when observations at time one and<br />
time two are compared in longitudinal studies. At present, researchers almost<br />
automatically turn to multi-level models or to GEE estimation to deal with these<br />
dependencies. Despite the enormous potential and applicability of these recent<br />
developments, they require restrictive assumptions on the nature of the<br />
dependencies in the data. Marginal models provide another way of dealing with<br />
these dependencies, without the need for such assumptions, and can be used to<br />
answer research questions directly at the intended marginal level. The present<br />
talk will focus on the maximum likelihood method, which has many attractive<br />
statistical properties, for fitting marginal models.<br />
This talk is based on a recent book by the authors in the Springer series<br />
Statistics for the Social Sciences, see www.cmm.st.
Presenter<br />
Croon, Marcel; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Authors<br />
Marcel Croon; Jacques A. Hagenaars; Department Methodology and Statistics,<br />
<strong>Tilburg</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
Wicher Bergsma; London School of Economics and Political Science, UK<br />
Francesca Bassi; <strong>University</strong> of Padova, Padova, Italy<br />
Title<br />
Marginal models for longitudinal categorical data from a complex rotating design<br />
Abstract<br />
In their book Marginal Models for Dependent, Clustered, and Longitudinal<br />
Categorical Data (2009), Bergsma, Croon & Hagenaars discuss several<br />
applications of marginal models for categorical data observed in longitudinal<br />
studies. They distinguish between the analysis of trend data, when different<br />
random samples from the same population are drawn at different time points,<br />
and panel data, when the same random sample from a population is observed at<br />
different time points. For both types of data, they discuss how various<br />
hypotheses about gross and net changes over time can be tested by marginal<br />
modeling.<br />
These methods can be extended to the case the data are collected in a<br />
more complex way, for instance, by means of a rotating design in which different<br />
random cross-sectional samples are followed over time at different measurement<br />
occasions. The data which will be analyzed come from the Italian Continuous<br />
Quarterly Labour Force Survey, which is cross-sectional with a 2-2-2 rotating<br />
design. The questionnaire yields multiple indicators of labour force participation<br />
for each quarter: (i) each respondent is classified as employed, unemployed or<br />
out of the labour market according to the definition of the International Labour<br />
Office on the bases of answers given to a group of questions (ii) each<br />
respondent is asked to classify himself as employed, unemployed or out of the<br />
labour market, the so-called self-perceived condition; and (iii) a retrospective
question asks about condition in the labour market one year before the<br />
interview.<br />
In the analysis of the data from this survey, the emphasis is on the study how<br />
changes in labour status are reflected by each of the three indicators, and how<br />
differences and similarities among them change over time.
Author and presenter<br />
Kuijpers, Renske E.; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Testing Cronbach's Alpha Using Feldt's Approach and a New Marginal Modelling<br />
Approach<br />
Abstract<br />
Feldt developed an approach for testing three relevant hypotheses<br />
involving Cronbach's alpha: H01, alpha equals a particular criterion; H02, two<br />
alpha coefficients computed on two independent samples are equal; and H03,<br />
two alpha coefficients computed on the same sample are equal. The assumptions<br />
of Feldt's approach are unrealistic for many test and questionnaire data, and<br />
little is known about the robustness of the approach against violations of the<br />
assumptions. We propose a new approach to testing the three hypotheses. The<br />
new approach uses marginal modelling and is based on weaker assumptions.<br />
The Type I error rate and the power of both approaches were compared in a<br />
simulation study using realistic conditions. In general, the two approaches<br />
showed similar results showing that Feldt's approach is robust against violations<br />
of the assumptions. In some cases, however, the marginal modelling approach<br />
was more accurate: For computing Type I error rates for very high values of<br />
alpha, for computing Type I error rates for hypothesis H03, and for computing<br />
the power of hypothesis H03 using a small sample size.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION B: Categorical Marginal Models<br />
SUMMARY<br />
New developments in categorical marginal models<br />
Chair of this session: Wicher P. Bergsma w.p.bergsma@lse.ac.uk<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Andries van der Ark a.vdark@uvt.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Tamás Rudas rudas@tarki.hu<br />
Dept. of Statistics, Eotvos Lorand <strong>University</strong> (ELTE) Budapest, Hungary<br />
Antonio Forcina forcina@stat.unipg.it<br />
Dept. of Economics, Finance and Statistics, <strong>University</strong> of Perugia, Italy<br />
Alberto Roverato alberto.roverato@unibo.it<br />
Dept. of Science Statistics, <strong>University</strong> of Bologna, Italy
Author and presenter<br />
Forcina, Antonio; Dept. of Economics, Finance and Statistics, <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Perugia, Italy<br />
Title<br />
Smoothness of Conditional Independence Models for Discrete Data<br />
Abstract<br />
The paper is about a family of conditional independence models which require<br />
constraints on complete but non hierarchical marginal log-linear parameters. For<br />
such models, whose dependence structure cannot be represented by any of the<br />
known graphical separation criteria, it is not known whether the model is<br />
smooth, so that the usual asymptotics can be applied. A model is called non<br />
smooth when the variety which it defines in the parameter space contains points<br />
which do not admit a local approximation by a linear space.<br />
By exploiting results on the mixed parameterization within the exponential<br />
family, we determine a condition which has to be satisfied for the model to be<br />
smooth. The condition has to do with the possibility to reconstruct the joint<br />
distribution from the set of marginal log-linear parameters in a unique way. In<br />
technical terms, the condition require that a certain jacobian matrix has spectral<br />
radius strictly less than 1. In the simple context when only two marginals are<br />
involved, we show that this condition is always satisfied. In the general case, we<br />
describe an efficient numerical test for checking whether the condition is<br />
satisfied with high probability. This approach is illustrated with several examples<br />
of non hierarchical conditional independence models and by a directed cyclic<br />
graph model; we establish that all these models smooth.
Presenter<br />
Rudas, Tamás; Eötvös Loránd <strong>University</strong><br />
Authors<br />
Tamás Rudas and Renáta Németh; Eötvös Loránd <strong>University</strong><br />
Title<br />
Marginal Models of Social Mobility<br />
Abstract<br />
The talk shows how path models may be defined within the marginal<br />
modeling framework. The key assumption of a path model is that only effects<br />
associated with edges or arrows of a graph exist among the variables. This<br />
assumption is straightforward within the Gaussian framework but is a real<br />
restriction for categorical data. Marginal log-linear parameters are used to<br />
quantify the magnitude of the effects allowed by the model. As illustrative<br />
applications, status attainment models will be defined ad analyzed.
Author and presenter<br />
Roverato, Alberto; Dept. of Science Statistics, <strong>University</strong> of Bologna, Italy<br />
Title<br />
Log-linear Moebius models for binary data<br />
Abstract<br />
Models of marginal independence can be useful in several contexts and<br />
sometimes they may be used to represent independence structures induced<br />
after marginalizing over latent variables. A relevant class of marginal models is<br />
given by graphical models for marginal independence that use either bi-directed<br />
or dashed undirected graphs to encode marginal independence patterns between<br />
the variables of a random vector (Cox and Wermuth, 1993). When variables<br />
follow a multinomial distribution, graphical models for marginal independence<br />
are curved exponential families and the marginal independence restrictions<br />
correspond to complicated non-linear restrictions on the parameters of the<br />
traditional log-linear models. Parameterizations more suitable in this context<br />
have been proposed by Drton and Richardson (2008), shortly DR2008, and by<br />
Lupparelli, Marchetti and Bergsma (2009), shortly LMB2009. DR2008 introduced<br />
the Moebius parameters and showed that marginal independence constraints<br />
correspond to the factorization of certain mean parameters of the exponential<br />
family representation of the model. Although it is not straightforward to identify<br />
the set of factorizations corresponding to a given independence model, this<br />
parameterization has several advantages and, in particular, the likelihood can be<br />
written in closed form as a function of the Moebius parameters. Successively,<br />
LMB2009 proposed a mixed parametrization, denoted by lambda, based on<br />
marginal log-linear parameters such that graphical models for marginal<br />
independence can be specified by setting to zero certain lambda terms. In this<br />
framework, however, it is not possible to write the parameters of the<br />
multinomial distribution as a function of lambda in closed form. In this paper, we<br />
introduce a class of models for binary variables that we call the log-linear<br />
Moebius models. A first feature of this class of models is that it includes, as a<br />
special case, graphical models for marginal independence. The parameters of our<br />
class of models, that we call gamma, are not a mixed parametrization and, in<br />
fact, they are closely related to the Moebius parameters of DR2008 and allow us
to write the likelihood in closed form. Nevertheless, similarly to the<br />
parametrization of LMB2009, marginal independence can be specified directly by<br />
a set of zero constraints. More generally, log-linear Moebius models can be seen<br />
as an extension of graphical models for marginal independence because they<br />
make it possible to specify additional independence relationships, in<br />
subpopulations of interest, by imposing linear constraints on the gamma<br />
parameters.<br />
Cox, D. R. and Wermuth, N. (1993). Linear dependencies represented by chain<br />
graphs (with discussion). Statist. Sci. 8, 204–218, 247–277.<br />
Drton, M. and Richardson, T. S. (2008). Binary models for marginal<br />
independence. J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. B Stat. Methodol. 70, 287–309.<br />
Lupparelli M., Marchetti, G. M. and Bergsma, W. P. (2009). Parameterization<br />
and fitting of discrete bi-directed graph models. Scandinavian Journal of<br />
Statistics, 36, p. 559-576
Author and presenter<br />
Ark van der, Andries; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Categorical Marginal Models for Large Sparse Contingency Tables<br />
Abstract<br />
Categorical marginal models (CMMs) are flexible tools to model location,<br />
spread, and association in categorical data that have some dependence<br />
structure.The categorical data are collected in a contingency table; location,<br />
spread, or association are modelled by restricting certain marginals of the<br />
contingency table. If contingency tables are large, maximum likelihood<br />
estimation of the CMMs is no longer feasible due to computer memory problems.<br />
We propose a maximum empirical likelihood estimation (MEL) procedure for<br />
estimating CMMs for large contingency tables, and discuss three related<br />
problems:The problem of finding the correct design matrices and the so-called<br />
empty set problem can be solved satisfactorily, the problem of obtaining good<br />
starting values remains unsolved. A simulation study shows that for small data<br />
contingency tables ML and MEL yield comparable estimates. For large tables,<br />
when ML does not work, MEL has a good sensitivity and specificity if good<br />
starting values are available.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION: Multilevel analysis<br />
SUMMARY<br />
Multilevel analysis is extensively used in cross-national survey research and in<br />
the current session the latest developments in this field are presented.<br />
The first talk is about distinguishing longitudinal from cross-sectional variation<br />
and explaining why some societies change more than others. The question “How<br />
many countries are needed for an accurate multilevel SEM?” is answered in the<br />
second presentation. Third, a Stata command is presented that became recently<br />
available to fit multilevel models in MLwiN from within Stata. Last, models for<br />
predicting (dichotomous) outcomes at the national-level from explanatory<br />
variables at the individual-level are presented.<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Malcolm Fairbrother m.fairbrother@bristol.ac.uk<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Bristol<br />
Bart Meuleman bart.meuleman@soc.kuleuven.be<br />
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven<br />
George Leckie g.leckie@bristol.ac.uk<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Bristol, Centre for Multilevel Modelling<br />
Margot Bennink(chair of the session) m.bennink@uvt.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Author and presenter<br />
Fairbrother, Malcolm; <strong>University</strong> of Bristol<br />
Title<br />
On the Multiple Ways of Using Multilevel Models to Study Social Change<br />
Abstract<br />
Analyses of repeated cross-sectional survey data have relied increasingly<br />
on multilevel/random effects models, in two ways. First, multilevel models have<br />
been used to distinguish age, period, and cohort effects, where the goal is to<br />
understand the mechanism by which some social change is occurring. Second,<br />
models of survey respondents nested within social units (typically countries or<br />
states) have been used to examine the effects of society-level conditions on<br />
individual-level outcomes. Both approaches, however, provide limited insights<br />
into the drivers of change over time. The former approach does not exploit<br />
differences among societies experiencing more or less change, and the latter<br />
does not distinguish longitudinal from cross-sectional variation. This paper<br />
illustrates how to overcome these limitations, by group mean-centring time-<br />
varying covariates—allowing for longitudinal effects to be distinguished from<br />
cross-sectional effects—and by fitting growth curves at the group level. Growth<br />
curves, where units of analysis are presumed to have unique random slopes for<br />
time, allow for the rate of some social change to be a function of a time-<br />
invariant covariate. This is the relationship many social theories implicitly<br />
expect, no matter whether change is mostly due to period or cohort effects. The<br />
paper concludes with an application to the study of why religiosity has declined<br />
(or secularism expanded) in some countries and not others.
Author and presenter<br />
Meuleman, Bart; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium<br />
Title<br />
A Monte Carlo sample size study: how many countries are needed for accurate<br />
multilevel SEM?<br />
Abstract<br />
Thanks to the increasing availability of international survey data (e.g. the<br />
European Values Study and the European Social Survey), there exists growing<br />
scientific interest for cross-national comparisons of values, attitudes and<br />
opinions. Various scholars have used international surveys to link individual<br />
characteristics to aspects of the national context. Often, multilevel techniques<br />
are applied to explain individual-level variables by means of country-level<br />
features.<br />
However, the application of multilevel models in the field of cross-national<br />
research is far from unproblematic. Due to budget limitations, the number of<br />
participating countries does not exceed 25 for most international surveys.<br />
Consequently, the group level sample sizes are often substantially lower than<br />
what rules of thumb suggest (at least 50 or 100 units). On the other hand,<br />
cross-national surveys typically contain a large number of respondents per<br />
country (> 1000).<br />
This paper summarizes the results of a Monte Carlo study that was carried<br />
out to assess the accuracy of multilevel modeling in the domain of cross-national<br />
research. More specifically, the study concentrates on a rather recent but very<br />
promising statistical tool, namely multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM).<br />
A multilevel SEM, in which a latent factor is explained by a within- and a<br />
between-level variable, is simulated. In order to reproduce realistic<br />
circumstances as much as possible, the situation of the ESS round 1 (2002-<br />
2003) -22 countries and over 40.000 respondents- is taken as a starting point.<br />
The size of the between-level variable effect and the intra-class correlations are<br />
manipulated. In order to test whether trade-off effects between individual<br />
sample size and group sample size are present, various numbers of countries<br />
and respondents per country are simulated. For all conditions, the parameter<br />
estimates and their respective standard errors for both the within- and between
model are evaluated. Special attention is given to the power for detecting the<br />
effect of the between-level variable.
Presenter<br />
Leckie, George; <strong>University</strong> of Bristol, Centre for Multilevel Modelling<br />
Authors<br />
George Leckie; Chris Charlton<br />
Title<br />
Running MLwiN from within Stata: the runmlwin command<br />
Abstract<br />
The Centre for Multilevel Modelling is developing runmlwin, a Stata<br />
command to fit multilevel models in MLwiN from within Stata. There are three<br />
steps to using runmlwin: (1) The researcher specifies the desired model using<br />
the runmlwin command syntax; (2) The model is sent to and fitted in MLwiN;<br />
and (3) The results are returned to and displayed in Stata where they can be<br />
accessed for further analyses.<br />
runmlwin will benefit Stata users by enabling them to fit a considerably<br />
wider range of multilevel models than they can currently and to fit these models<br />
quickly and to large data sets using fast estimation engines. Stata users can<br />
then examine these models using the many interactive tools available in MLwiN.<br />
runmlwin will also benefit MLwiN users familiar with Stata as they can now type<br />
all the commands for their analysis into a single file and to run them all at once.<br />
This makes it easy to document and reproduce the results for an entire series of<br />
MLwiN models. MLwiN users can then make use of Stata’s many inbuilt post-<br />
estimation commands to calculate predictions, perform hypothesis tests, and<br />
produce publication quality graphics. Even simulation studies are now easy to<br />
perform.<br />
In this talk, we shall provide an overview of the runmlwin command and then<br />
demonstrate runmlwin in action with several example multilevel analyses.
Presenter<br />
Bennink, Margot; Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social<br />
and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Authors<br />
Margot Bennink; Marcel A. Croon; Jeroen K. Vermunt; Dept. Methodology and<br />
Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Micro-Macro analysis for discrete outcomes<br />
Abstract<br />
This study deals with models for predicting outcomes at the higher level (e.g.<br />
team performance) from explanatory variables at the lower level (e.g.<br />
employee’s motivation and skills). This “reversed” multilevel analysis problem is<br />
rather common in social sciences, and is sometimes referred to as micro-macro<br />
analysis. Recently, Croon and Van Veldhoven proposed a statistical model for<br />
micro-macro multilevel analysis which involves using a factor analytic structure<br />
in which the scores of the lower-level units are seen as indicators of latent<br />
factors at the group level. The key is that the outcome variable is not regressed<br />
on the aggregated group mean(s) of the micro-level predictor(s) but on the<br />
latent macro-level variable(s). The aim of the project, from which the current<br />
study is a part, is to generalize this approach so that it can also be applied when<br />
the explanatory and/or outcome variables are discrete instead of continuous and<br />
normally distributed. Two new models for micro-macro relations between<br />
discrete variables are presented; a simple 1-2 model in which a dichotomous<br />
micro-level variable affects a dichotomous macro-level outcome variable, and a<br />
more complex 2-1-2 model in which a dichotomous macro-level variable has a<br />
direct effect on a dichotomous macro-level outcome variable and an indirect<br />
effect on the outcome through a dichotomous mediating variable defined at the<br />
micro-level. In both models the latent variable at the group level is defined to be<br />
discrete (latent classes). We present the theoretical background of the models, a<br />
simulation study in which their performance is evaluated, as well as an empirical<br />
application.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION: Response Styles and Response Behavior<br />
SUMMARY<br />
The quality of survey data is strongly influenced by variations in the<br />
cognitive effort respondents are willing to invest in answering interview<br />
questions. As pointed out by Krosnick (1996), respondents are likely to simplify<br />
challenging cognitive processes, and to reduce the cognitive effort necessary<br />
(“survey satisficing”). Effects of satisficing include item-nonresponse,<br />
acquiescence, response sets, and non-differentiation in item batteries. Satisficing<br />
therefore substantially lowers data quality and contributes to the total survey<br />
error. This session comprises papers on variations in response style and<br />
response behavior, and studies different aspects of satisficing strategies. We<br />
present research on the impact of interviewing mode, question type and<br />
response scale format on response behavior.<br />
Presenters:<br />
Cornelia Züll & Evi Scholz cornelia.zuell@gesis.org<br />
Gesis – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany<br />
Henning Best (chair of this session) henning.best@gesis.org<br />
Gesis – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and <strong>University</strong> of Mannheim<br />
Juergen H.P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik juergen.hoffmeyer-zlotnik@gesis.org<br />
Gesis – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and <strong>University</strong> of Giessen<br />
Dagmar Krebs dagmar.krebs@sowi.uni-giessen.de<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Giessen, Germany
Presenter<br />
Züll, Cornelia & Scholz, Evi; Gesis – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences,<br />
Germany<br />
Authors<br />
Cornelia Züll & Evi Scholz<br />
Title<br />
Item Nonresponse in Open Ended Questions: Empirical Analyses of Respondents’<br />
Answering Behaviour on the Meaning of Left and Right.<br />
Abstract<br />
One of the main topics of the German Social Survey (ALLBUS) in 2008<br />
was “political attitudes and political participation”. As in many other political<br />
science based surveys the self-placement on a left-right scale was asked as an<br />
indicator for ideological self-identification. Though left-right self-placement is<br />
one of the most frequently used measures in empirical political science research,<br />
the respondents' associations with “left” and “right” are queried only rarely in<br />
the last decades of survey research. ALLBUS 2008 included two open-ended<br />
questions directly following the left-right scale itself and thus allows to gain<br />
important insights in how respondents use the left-right scale: “What do you<br />
mean by left/right”. However, item non-response on these open-ended questions<br />
has to be well considered before the associations with “left” and “right” are<br />
analyzed and results are interpreted. About 20% of the respondents answered<br />
“don’t know” or did not answer the question at all. Such a considerable amount<br />
of non-response might have effects on data quality and, hence, on the<br />
interpretation of the results. We assume that respondents answering “don’t<br />
know” or those who did not give any answer would have problems with the self-<br />
placement on the left-right scale. We further assume that demographic and<br />
political indicators, i.e. education – both formally and politically – or political<br />
interest, influence the non-response behavior. We will present the results of our<br />
investigation of item non-response on the questions about associations with<br />
left/right and discuss quality problems related to the validity of the left-right<br />
scale itself.
Author and presenter<br />
Best, Henning; Gesis – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and <strong>University</strong><br />
of Mannheim<br />
Title<br />
Survey-Satisficing in Telephone and Face-to-Face Interviews. A Comparison of<br />
Non-Differentiation in Item Batteries.<br />
Abstract<br />
Answering interview questions requires substantial cognitive effort from<br />
repondents, no matter which interview mode is used (telephone, face-to-face or<br />
mail). The respondents need to concentrate on the interview, interpret the<br />
question’s meaning, recall knowledge on attitudes or past behaviors, and finally<br />
formulate an appropriate answer. Starting from Simon’s (1955) concept of<br />
bounded rationality, Krosnick (1996) argues that respondents tend to simplify<br />
cognitive processes and therefore to reduce the effort involved in answering<br />
survey questions (“survey satisficing”). Effects of satisficing include acqiescence,<br />
response sets, and non-differentiation in item batteries. Holbrook et. al. (2003)<br />
hypothesize the tendency for survey satisficing to be stronger in telephone<br />
interviewing, as compared to personal interviews. The consequences of<br />
satisficing behavior then may lead to a lower data quality in telephone surveys<br />
(“satisficing bias”). We test Krosnick’s and Holbrook et al‘s Hypotheses using<br />
data from a large German survey on media consumption. The survey was<br />
conducted in 2000 using CATI as well as CAPI, using identical questions and item<br />
batteries. First results indicate the amount of survey satisficing to be higher in<br />
the CATI survey. Additionally, the mode effect is stronger in respondents with a<br />
low education.
Author and presenter<br />
Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, Juergen H.P.; Gesis – Leibniz Institute for the Social<br />
Sciences and <strong>University</strong> of Giessen<br />
Title<br />
Effects of Response Scale Formats in Comparative Survey Research<br />
Abstract<br />
In international comparative social survey research many important<br />
problems in translating and harmonizing the questions have been solved in the<br />
recent years. However, critical issues regarding the response scales used for of<br />
attitude measurement still remain unresolved. In international comparative<br />
survey research we know that the perceived distance between scale points will<br />
change when the response scales are translated. The interpretation of vague<br />
quantifiers used to verbalize scale points strongly varies by culture. Additionally,<br />
there is a lack of research on effects of the response scale format on response<br />
behavior. Although there has been research on the mid-point of rating scales as<br />
well as on the direction of response scales from a national perspective, only a<br />
small number of studies has been published on these important questions in the<br />
context of international surveys. In this paper I will argue that international<br />
research projects oftentimes rely on national traditions in formulating response<br />
scales, which more often than not is based on ideology than on research. I<br />
present effects of response scale formats found in national research and discuss<br />
these effects with regard to the practice of international survey research and the<br />
cross-cultural comparability of survey data.
Author and presenter<br />
Krebs, Dagmar; <strong>University</strong> of Giessen, Germany<br />
Title<br />
The Impact of Direction and Polarity in Response Scales on Response Behavior<br />
Abstract<br />
The application of cognitive theory to survey methodology uncovered that<br />
answering survey questions is a cognitive process consisting basically of four<br />
tasks: question interpretation, memory retrieval, judgment formation, and<br />
response editing. This paper deals with the latter two tasks in examining the<br />
effect of polarity (uni- versus bipolar response scales) within answering<br />
categories running either from negative to positive or from positive to negative.<br />
The effect of polarity is expected to materialize primarily in the middle category<br />
of the scale: On a unipolar scale, the middle category indicates medium intensity<br />
whereas on a bipolar scale, the midpoint indicates neutrality. At the same time,<br />
responses on the bipolar scale are expected to tend more to the positive than to<br />
the negative area of the scale. However, with changing direction of the response<br />
scale, these effects might be stronger in the scale format starting with the<br />
negative response option then in the format starting with the positive response<br />
option. The study was conducted with repeated measurement, asking identical<br />
respondents identical questions with different methods – here uni- versus bipolar<br />
scales, formulated in positive as well as negative directions. For all questions a<br />
7-point response scale was used. Question content refers to achievement and<br />
job motivation. Based on the repeated measures with different scale<br />
polarization, reliability and validity of indicators are tested and the impact of uni-<br />
versus bipolar scale format on measurement quality (method effect) is tested.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION: Applications of Latent Variable Models<br />
SUMMARY<br />
For many constructs of interest in the social sciences, educational<br />
measurement, psychology, biology, and economics, no direct method exists for<br />
measurement. Nonetheless, examples of such constructs are legion, for instance<br />
think of political attitudes, abilities, personal traits, or product preferences. To<br />
get a hold of such constructs, researchers gather observable variables (hereafter<br />
called indicators, manifest variables, or items) which they hope will provide<br />
indirect evidence for the constructs of interest. Latent variable models are<br />
statistical models built to quantify and help objectify this type of inference by<br />
deriving a small set of latent unobserved variables that is underlying to the set<br />
of manifest variables and should reflect the constructs of interest. Well-known<br />
instances of this type of modeling approach are factor analysis (Thurstone,<br />
1947), latent class and latent profile analysis (Lazarsfeld & Henry, 1968), and<br />
item response theory (Lord & Novick, 1968).<br />
Although the foundations of latent variable models were laid several years<br />
ago, it has taken quite some time before they became widely applied. This is<br />
mainly due to the statistical nature of these models as well as the sometimes<br />
complicated computations and algorithms needed to estimate latent variable<br />
models. With the recent advances in computation speed and optimization<br />
algorithms and the availability of general purpose software able to fit latent<br />
variable models, this has become less of an issue.<br />
This session is intended as a brief showcase of the possibilities that a<br />
latent variable model framework can offer for research in the social and<br />
behavioral sciences. Each presentation will fill in and illustrate one of the most<br />
familiar model instances in the framework (see Figure).
PRESENTERS:<br />
Johan Braeken (chair of the session) j.braeken@uvt.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Mart van Dinther m.vandinther@fontys.nl<br />
Dept. Pedagogical Studies: Educational Theory, Fontys <strong>University</strong> of Applied Sciences,<br />
Sittard/<strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
Phoebe Mui phoebe.mui@gmail.com<br />
Research Master, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Gabriela Koppenol-Gonzalez g.v.koppenolgonzalez@uvt.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Author and presenter<br />
Mui, Phoebe; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Latent Profile Analysis:<br />
Typologies of immigrant's acculturation attitudes: Comparing theory and data.<br />
Abstract<br />
Classifying people, concepts, or other entities into categories to streamline one's<br />
thinking and perceptions, is common practice in every day life: By grouping<br />
entities the world gains structure.<br />
Also in scientific research such classification schemes are quite common:<br />
think of Durkheim's four types of suicide, Jung's psychological types, or Berry's<br />
acculturation strategies. The main advantage of such a typology is that a<br />
theoretical reference frame for further investigations is created. However, what<br />
is the value of such a theoretical typology in practice and how should one<br />
classify entities into the theoretical categories based upon the available data?<br />
Latent profile analysis [LPA] provides an initial starting point to answer these<br />
two questions. LPA can be used as a model-based clustering procedure, grouping<br />
entities based upon their similar properties. The model can be either entirely<br />
data-driven or restricted to correspond to a theoretical typology. This allows for<br />
a direct comparison between the theoretically expected typology and the<br />
prominent categories that are put forward by the data.<br />
LPA will be applied within the context of acculturation attitudes of<br />
immigrants in multicultural societies. How do immigrants typically deal with their<br />
cultural heritage and with the mainstream culture? Do they maintain their home<br />
culture, or do they adapt their cultural practice to fit in with the host culture?<br />
The most prominent account of acculturation is due to Berry. His model of<br />
acculturation consists of two dimensions: cultural maintenance and cultural<br />
change. Depending on one's relative preference along these two dimensions,<br />
four typical acculturation strategies are possible: integration, marginalization,<br />
assimilation, or separation.
Author and presenter<br />
Dinther, Mart van; Dept. Pedagogical Studies: Educational Theory, Fontys<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Applied Sciences, Sittard/<strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
Title<br />
Factor Analysis:<br />
Perceived competence for higher education: Underlying structure and utility.<br />
Abstract<br />
Competence-based education emphasizes the development of<br />
competences, in stead of acquiring isolated knowledge and skills. A competence<br />
is an integrated set of related knowledge, skills and attitudes, that enables the<br />
student to perform professional tasks.<br />
This study draws attention to the role of student’s own perceptions and beliefs in<br />
acquiring professional competencies. Based upon social cognitive theory and<br />
competence-based educational theory, perceived competence is anticipated to<br />
be a complex and broad construct. As an initial measure for this construct, a<br />
comprehensive self-report survey is created.<br />
To shed some more light on the underlying structure of, and possible<br />
driving forces behind perceived self competence, factor analysis is used. A<br />
series of 4 confirmatory factor analysis models (i.e., one-factor, multi-factor,<br />
second-order factor, and bi-factor model) was fitted. A substantive<br />
interpretation of the model results is provided and a link is made to the<br />
predictive validity of the survey. Although self-report measures are often<br />
criticized as being uninformative and not objective, some initial evidence is<br />
provided for the potential diagnostic value of a perceived competence measure<br />
for competence learning.
Author and presenter<br />
Koppenol-Gonzalez, Gabriela; Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Latent Class Analysis:<br />
Understanding planning ability measured by the Tower of London:<br />
Identifying and characterizing cognitive strategies.<br />
Abstract<br />
The Tower of London (TOL) is a widely used instrument for assessing<br />
planning ability. People may adopt different strategies when confronted with a<br />
TOL problem. For instance, some people try to solve the problems by adopting a<br />
trial-and-error strategy, whereas others try to look ahead and think through<br />
every move before actually making the first one. It is obvious that some<br />
cognitive strategies are more efficient than others and that strategy<br />
effectiveness may interact with specific properties of given problems to be<br />
solved.<br />
TOL problem properties are directly observable, yet the cognitive strategy<br />
that people use to solve the problems are not. Hence to study this, a technique<br />
is needed that indirectly infers these cognitive strategies based upon the<br />
available data. In this study, latent class analysis was used to identify and<br />
characterize the most prominent cognitive strategies used when solving TOL-<br />
problems.<br />
The results suggest that four strategy groups can be distinguished which differ<br />
with respect to preplanning time, effects of problem properties on performance<br />
and overall performance. The findings offer an explanation for inconsistent<br />
findings in the literature on the relation between TOL problem solving and<br />
cognitive inhibition.
Author and presenter<br />
Braeken, Johan; Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and<br />
Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Item Response Models (Latent Trait Analysis):<br />
The ABC structure of aggression: Acknowledging context or not?<br />
Abstract<br />
Aggression is at the basis of much societal and personal suffering. As a<br />
consequence, the broad and complex construct of aggression has been studied<br />
extensively in the social and behavioral sciences. The aggression construct is<br />
commonly conceptualized as consisting of several, interrelated components that<br />
reflect the affective, behavioral, and cognitive aspects that are involved in<br />
aggression. This is the so-called ABC model.<br />
To test theories about the interrelations between the three aggression<br />
components, and to investigate the potential importance of context,<br />
multidimensional item response theory is used. A series of item response models<br />
is fitted that can be applied to any study with categorical responses and a<br />
similar multi-trait multi-method design. The substantive interpretation of the<br />
model results illustrate that the difference between either accounting for the<br />
context, or not, gives rise to both qualitative as well as quantitative changes in<br />
related model inferences. Hence, context does matter when studying aggression.<br />
Prior studies mainly consider aggression at the general trait-and-attitude<br />
level. In contrast, this directed-imagery study is based upon a survey that<br />
assesses each aggression component in three different situational contexts; It<br />
allows to study aggression while acknowledging the context in which it arises.<br />
To test theories about the interrelations between the three aggression<br />
components, and to investigate the potential importance of context,<br />
multidimensional item response theory is used. A series of item response models<br />
is fitted that can be applied to any study with categorical responses and a
similar multi-trait multi-method design. The substantive interpretation of the<br />
model results illustrate that the difference between either accounting for the<br />
context, or not, gives rise to both qualitative as well as quantitative changes in<br />
related model inferences. Hence, context does matter when studying aggression.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION: PPSM Session A:<br />
Panel Research, Nonresponse and Missing Data Analysis<br />
SUMMARY<br />
The German Priority Programme on Survey Methodology (PPSM) started<br />
on January 2008. It consists of a total of 16 projects and is still running (see<br />
www.survey-methodology.de). The present session aims at reporting on work<br />
from PPSM projects that address research questions related to longitudinal<br />
research (Bloom filter based cryptographic personal identification keys), access-<br />
panel research (Who joins a probability based access panel), administration data<br />
for nonresponse analysis, and multiple imputation of incomplete count data. In<br />
addition, the session provides a brief introduction to the PPSM network.<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Uwe Engel (chair of the session) uengel@empas.uni-bremen.de<br />
Dept. of Social Sciences, <strong>University</strong> of Bremen, Germany.<br />
Rainer Schnell rainer.schnell@uni-due.de<br />
Institut für Soziologie, <strong>University</strong> of Duisburg-Essen, Germany<br />
Tobias Gramlich tobias.gramlich@uni-due.de<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Duisburg-Essen, Germany<br />
Kristian Kleinke kristian.kleinke@uni-bielefeld.de<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Bielefeld, Germany
Presenter<br />
Engel, Uwe; Dept. of Social Sciences, <strong>University</strong> of Bremen<br />
Authors<br />
Uwe Engel; Simone Bartsch and Helen Vehre; <strong>University</strong> of Bremen<br />
Title<br />
Who joins a probability based access panel?<br />
Abstract<br />
As part of the German Priority Programme on Survey Methodology<br />
(www.survey-methodology.de), large random telephone samples for the adult<br />
population of Germany were drawn to build up an access panel for the three<br />
survey modes fixed-line, mobile-phone, and online-interviewing. 14,200 realized<br />
interviews yielded a net panel size of 6,600 people.<br />
The study design involves recruitment interviews of 20 minutes of length<br />
on average. The questionnaire programme focuses on variables expected to be<br />
relevant for explaining survey participation in one way or another (e.g., survey<br />
items related to social exchange and inte-gration, attitudes toward survey<br />
research, prior survey experience, personality traits, com-munication habit).<br />
A key feature of the study consists in an experimental design that, for<br />
refusal conversion attempts, combines interviewer tailoring efforts with the offer<br />
of ‘core interviews’ (of about half the full interview length) and ‘exit interviews’<br />
(consisting of just two questions on prior survey experience). In this way a<br />
limited amount of survey data is obtained for respondents who were otherwise<br />
non-respondents. In addition to the survey data from full-interview participants,<br />
we now have for two subsets of the whole variable list corresponding informa-<br />
tion also from core-interview and exit-interview participants. Hence it is possible<br />
to include the respective survey variables (along with paradata) in a model to<br />
predict the probability of obtaining a full recruitment interview.<br />
A further key feature of the study consists in a heavy use of paradata and<br />
metadata to predict response propensities. The available paradata includes<br />
information about the se-quences of events that occurred during the process of<br />
repeated contact attempts. We iden-tified all such sequences and coded them<br />
into a typology of 22 contact courses. Also availa-ble is the number of contact
attempts. In addition, a large set of items was collected on con-vincing efforts<br />
(the various arguments raised) to convert reluctant persons. Finally, we let the<br />
interviewers rate the degree of necessary convincing effort in cases of both<br />
success and failure, i.e., in cases with a full, core or exit interview respectively a<br />
refusal of a target person in the end. Besides, the available metadata includes a<br />
set of questions on possible reasons why the person decided to take part in the<br />
interview, the perceived interview atmosphere as well as the perceived<br />
sensitivity and other aspects of selected survey items.<br />
At the ASA Methodology Conference we would like to present two related<br />
models. The 1st model is a multilevel model of participation in the initial<br />
recruitment interview itself. It com-bines a series of related mixed-effects<br />
logistic regression equations in an attempt at exhaust-ing, in view of a<br />
pronounced missing data pattern, as much predictor information as possi-ble.<br />
The equations use parts of the aforementioned sets of paradata and survey data<br />
respec-tively while controlling for interviewer effects.<br />
One outcome of this modelling approach is the estimated probability to<br />
provide a full re-cruitment interview. Along with survey-data from the full-<br />
interview variable list and afore-mentioned metadata variables, this estimated<br />
response propensity is used in a second step as a predictor variable in a latent<br />
variable model of access-panel membership.
Presenter<br />
Schnell, Rainer; Institut für Soziologie, <strong>University</strong> of Duisburg-Essen<br />
Authors<br />
Rainer Schnell; Tobias Bachteler and J. Reiher; <strong>University</strong> of Duisburg-Essen<br />
Title<br />
Bloom filter based cryptographic personal identification keys for longitudinal<br />
research.<br />
Abstract<br />
Longitudinal micro data are a rich source of information on important<br />
research topics all through the social sciences. To obtain longitudinal data<br />
individuals must however be tracked over time. For example, in epidemiological<br />
research, a national cohort may be tracked life-long in databases of health care<br />
providers. In criminological research, the identity of offend-ers has to be known<br />
for computing individual risk of recidivism.<br />
If no unique national personal identification numbers are available, the<br />
linkage of person-al data of the same individual across time is usually based on<br />
pseudonyms. Since this raises privacy concerns, methods of privacy preserving<br />
identity management in longitudinal re-search are needed.<br />
So far, quite simple algorithms for the generation of pseudonyms based<br />
on personal cha-racteristics (names, date and place of birth) are in common use.<br />
However, these algorithms will yield non matching pseudonyms when errors or<br />
changes in the underlying information occur.<br />
In Schnell et al. (2009) we suggested to use Bloom filters for calculating<br />
string similarities in a privacy-preserving manner. <strong>Here</strong>, we claim that this<br />
principle can also be used for a cryptographic long-term stable key (CLK) that<br />
provides both privacy and fault-tolerance. Us-ing simulated data we evaluate its<br />
practicability and compare it to previously proposed al-ternative methods.<br />
References:<br />
Schnell, R., Bachteler, T. & Reiher, J. (2009): Privacy-preserving record linkage<br />
using Bloom filters; in: BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 9 (41).
Presenter<br />
Gramlich, Tobias; <strong>University</strong> of Duisburg-Essen, Germany<br />
Authors<br />
Rainer Schnell and Tobias Gramlich; <strong>University</strong> of Duisburg-Essen<br />
Title<br />
Potential Undercoverage and Bias in Name-based Samples of Foreigners<br />
Abstract<br />
In many cases there are no sampling frames for rare or special<br />
populations like foreigners or migrants. Therefore, often sampling frames for a<br />
more general population are screened for members of the target population.<br />
Whereas this is an efficient way of sampling rather rare and specific populations,<br />
knowledge of potential limitations and threats of this widely used approach is<br />
very limited.<br />
Screening and classifying members of a population according to some<br />
criteria may produce false positive matches (e.g. natives wrongly classified as<br />
foreigners) as well as false negatives (e.g. foreigners wrongly classified as<br />
domestic). Whereas false positives only increase screening or survey costs, false<br />
negatives potentially introduce bias if they are systematically different in<br />
variables relevant to the topic of the survey.<br />
Name-based sampling has been applied to different nationalities and<br />
groups of migrants. It also has shown to be an efficient method for sampling for<br />
turkish migrants (and their descendants) which present the largest group of<br />
migrants in Germany (Razum et al. 2000, 2001).<br />
We use a large scale German panel survey ('PASS', on labour market and<br />
social security) to investigate coverage problems and potential biases when<br />
using a Bayesian-based classification of names to screen for foreigners in a<br />
general population sampling frame. We will present results on biased estimates<br />
of migration and labour force variables, introduced by false negative name<br />
classifications.
References:<br />
Razum, Oliver; Zeeb, Hajo; Beck, K.; Becher, Heiko; Ziegler, H. &Stegmaier,<br />
Christa, 2000: Combining a name algorithm with a capture-recapture method to<br />
retrieve cases of Turkish descent from a German population-based cancer<br />
registry. European Journal of Cancer 36:2380-2384<br />
Razum, Oliver; Zeeb, Hajo & Akgün, Seval, 2001: How Useful is a Name-based<br />
Algorithm in Health Research Among Turkish Migrants in Germany. Tropical<br />
Medicine and International Health 6(8): 654-661.
Presenter<br />
Kleinke, Kristian; <strong>University</strong> of Bielefeld<br />
Authors<br />
Kristian Kleinke, and Jost Reinecke; <strong>University</strong> of Bielefeld<br />
Title<br />
Multiple imputation of incomplete count data.<br />
Abstract<br />
Multiple imputation is one of the state of the art procedures to analyze<br />
incomplete data. Multiple Imputation technology is nowadays implemented in<br />
nearly every statistical pack-age. Unfortunately, currently available software is<br />
still quite limited in two regards: efficient and robust procedures for (a) "special"<br />
data types like count data and (b) complex data structures like clustered or<br />
panel data.<br />
We present imputation routines for ordinary, overdispersed, zero-inflated<br />
and multilevel count data, discuss their respective advantages and<br />
disadvantages and present fruitful ave-nues for future software development.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION: PPSM Session B: Measurement Techniques, Online Research<br />
and the Role of the Interviewer<br />
SUMMARY: The German Priority Programme on Survey Methodology (PPSM)<br />
started on January 2008. It consists of a total of 16 projects and is still running<br />
(see www.survey-methodology.de). The present session aims at reporting on<br />
work from PPSM projects that address research questions related to<br />
measurement techniques for asking sensitive questions (Testing a new<br />
alternative to the Randomized Response Technique) and the factorial survey<br />
design and interviewer effects (Just gross earnings: Why respondents prefer<br />
lower inequalities in earnings while an interviewer is sitting next to them). The<br />
role of the interviewer is also addressed related to interviewer effects in the<br />
recruitment of a probability based access panel as well as related to an indicator<br />
based method for ex-post identification of falsifications in survey data. Finally,<br />
the session provides an international comparison of the availability of<br />
technologies for online surveys.<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Marc Höglinger (or Ben Jann) marc.hoeglinger@soz.gess.ethz.ch<br />
ETH Zurich and <strong>University</strong> of Bern<br />
Stefan Liebig stefan.liebig@uni-bielefeld.de<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Bielefeld<br />
Lars Kaczmirek lars kaczmirek@gesis org<br />
GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Mannheim<br />
Nina Storfinger nina.storfinger@zeu.uni.giessen.de<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Giesen<br />
Uwe Engel (chair of the session) uengel@empas.uni-bremen.de<br />
Dept. of Social Sciences, <strong>University</strong> of Bremen
Presenter<br />
Höglinger, Marc (or Jann, Ben); ETH Zurich and <strong>University</strong> of Bern<br />
Authors<br />
Andreas Diekmann, and Marc Höglinger,; ETH Zurich<br />
Ben Jann; <strong>University</strong> of Bern<br />
Title<br />
Asking sensitive questions: Testing a new alternative to the Randomized<br />
Response Technique<br />
Abstract<br />
Eliciting truthful answers to sensitive questions is an age-old challenge in<br />
survey research. Respondents tend to underreport socially undesired or illegal<br />
behavior and to overreport desired behavior. The often used Randomized<br />
Response Technique is intended to overcome this problem by adding some<br />
randomness to the answering process which provides full protection to<br />
respondents. In practice however, the Randomized Response Technique shows<br />
some serious drawbacks. Respondents’ compliance with the procedure is crucial<br />
to get unbiased results. If some respondents don’t understand the underlying<br />
principle and do not completely trust the technique they tend to give self-<br />
protective answers that can substantially distort results.<br />
A new alternative technique, the Crosswise Model, promises to be much<br />
more robust to noncompliance because there exists no obvious self-protective<br />
answering strategy. In addition, respondents never have to answer the sensitive<br />
question directly. The Crosswise Model was proposed by Yu, Tian, and Tang<br />
(2008, Metrika 67: 251–263) and has first been implemented in a survey by<br />
Jann, Jerke, and Krumpal (forthcoming, Public Opinion Quarterly).<br />
We tested the Crosswise Model in an experimental online-survey on<br />
plagiarism and cheating in exams with university students as subjects. The<br />
performance of the Crosswise Model is compared to that of the Randomized<br />
Response Technique and of direct questioning along several dimensions such as
the resulting prevalence estimates and respondents’ perception of the usability<br />
and privacy protection.
Presenter<br />
Liebig, Stefan; <strong>University</strong> of Bielefeld<br />
Authors<br />
Stefan Liebig and Carsten Sauer; <strong>University</strong> of Bielefeld<br />
Katrin Auspurg, and Thomas Hinz; <strong>University</strong> of Konstanz<br />
Title<br />
Just gross earnings: Why respondents prefer lower inequalities in earnings while<br />
an inter-viewer is sitting next to them.<br />
Abstract<br />
The factorial survey design has become a popular method in survey<br />
research. It integrates experimental set-ups into a survey: Respondents react to<br />
hypothetical descriptions (vignettes) while the values of each attribute<br />
(dimen¬sion) systematically vary in order to estimate the impact of each<br />
dimension on respondents' judgments. So far there is only little empirical<br />
knowledge if and to what extent this approach causes methodological artefacts<br />
especially in attitude research. Using the example of justice evaluations of gross<br />
earnings we address two methodological problems in this paper. First, as<br />
respondents have to evaluate a number of complex descriptions (vignettes of<br />
fictitious earners) the complexity may result in quite arbitrary reactions, varying<br />
from time to time and causing a very low reliability of the instrument. Second,<br />
as the factorial survey was designed for an indirect measurement of attitudes<br />
one of its advantages is seemingly a low sensitivity for social desirability<br />
response sets. Therefore we present two studies focusing (1) on the reliability of<br />
attitude measures using a test-retest design (three wave panel study, 2008) and<br />
(2) on the sensitivity for interviewer effects using a mixed mode design (German<br />
population survey, 2009). The results based on the student panel study show a<br />
fairly high reliability of the attitude measurement. In the population survey we<br />
find strong interviewer effects, meaning that the perceived just magnitude of<br />
income inequality is more egalitarian in the presence of an interviewer than in<br />
the absence of an interviewer. We discuss the latter from a methodological but<br />
also from a substantial point of view as it is in line with the experimental findings<br />
from behavioral economics and an evolutionary theory of justice attitudes.
Presenter<br />
Kaczmirek, Lars; GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Mannheim<br />
Authors<br />
Lars Kaczmirek: Dorothé Behr and Wolfgang Bandilla;<br />
GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Mannheim<br />
Title<br />
Availability of technologies for online surveys – an international comparison<br />
Abstract<br />
Design decisions for Web surveys are restricted by the assumptions about<br />
the technologies respondents have available. Measurement problems might<br />
occur when fully labelled scales are displayed on small computer screens or<br />
when respondents participate via cell phones and other mobile devices such as<br />
Netbooks, iPhone, Ipad, or Blackberry. In these cases, the required equidistance<br />
of scale points could be violated. Other technologies whose availabili-ty are<br />
relevant in this context are Flash technology and the respondents’ connection<br />
speed, that are key indicators for successful video presentations, and Java Script<br />
which is widely used in automatic data validation procedures. JavaScript is also<br />
necessary for all interactive question types such as automatic tally questions or<br />
visual analog scales. In the process of designing a survey, the availability of<br />
these technologies is then highly relevant for the tech-nical pretest. As<br />
pretesting is restricted to the most common combinations of technology, such as<br />
specific browsers, mobile devices, and connection speed, it is important to know<br />
which combinations really are the most common in the target group.<br />
This study provides exactly this data on available technologies for<br />
countries with different Internet penetration rates, namely Canada, Denmark,<br />
Germany, Hungary, Spain, and the United States (N=480 per country, quotation<br />
on age, gender and education). Data was col-lected automatically, similarly to<br />
the collection of paradata, in January 2011 while respon-dents participated in an<br />
Internet survey. The participants were sampled from online access panels. The<br />
results provide information about the availability of technology in different de-<br />
mographic groups: How do respondents access online surveys (connection
speed, browser, mobile devices)? What technology can survey researchers safely<br />
design for (screen size and used window size, Flash, JavaScript)? The study<br />
shows that most surveys can use a wide range of design choices, but also that<br />
specific groups of respondents need a conservative approach.
Presenter<br />
Storfinger, Nina; <strong>University</strong> of Giesen<br />
Authors<br />
Nina Storfinger; <strong>University</strong> of Giessen<br />
Natalja Menold; GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Mannheim<br />
Peter Winker; <strong>University</strong> of Giessen<br />
Title<br />
Indicator based method for ex-post identification of falsifications in survey data.<br />
Abstract<br />
Data quality in face-to-face interviews might be affected by interviewers'<br />
irregular behaviour like intentional deviation from the prescribed interviewing<br />
procedures, called cheating or interviewer falsification. As a part of a DFG<br />
research project we develop a multivariate statis-tical method - based on the<br />
motivation of such cheating behaviour - for ex-post identifica-tion of<br />
falsifications in survey data.<br />
As a first step in the project we conducted two explorative studies to identify the<br />
attributes of questionnaires, which would be useful to identify falsified data.<br />
During this step, existing real survey data is compared with “falsified” data<br />
which is fabricated by people participating in the explorative study. First results<br />
indicate clear differences between falsi-fied and real data. Falsifiers show a<br />
higher proportion of denominations of the option “Oth-ers” (in all semi-open<br />
questions which offer the option “other”), show less extreme answers in scale<br />
questions and they overestimate the political knowledge of real respondents.<br />
Fur-ther the falsifiers tend to round their answers to open-ended questions<br />
which require a me-tric answer like income or the frequency of a specific<br />
behaviour. Also they show higher in-ternal consistencies in item sets which are<br />
calculated by means of reliability coefficients.<br />
Based on these results we compute for every interviewer some specific<br />
“indicators of cheating” which are included in the multivariate analysis. For<br />
example we calculate the share of extreme answers in all scale questions or the<br />
share of rounded answers in all open-ended questions, and incorporate them in
a cluster analysis. Using this multivariate method we try to split the interviewers<br />
into two groups, correct and possibly cheating ones. The perfor-mance of this<br />
method is then assessed referring to the fraction of correctly assigned inter-<br />
viewers. Because of knowing the cheating interviewers beforehand, we are able<br />
to validate the clustering process immediately. We conduct some separate<br />
cluster analyses differencing in the amount of included indicators to assess the<br />
performance of every single indicator.<br />
Results of the analysis show that a high share of all falsifiers is actually<br />
pooled together in one cluster albeit some of the honest interviewers are also<br />
added to this group. Concerning the performance of every single indicator the<br />
“extreme-answers ratio” shows the highest share of correctly assigned<br />
interviewers; more than half of the honest and half of the cheat-ing interviewers<br />
could be identified. Thus, we might argue that the “indices of cheating” em-<br />
ployed, help to identify cheaters. The sensitivity of the clustering method is then<br />
analysed by means of bootstrapping. In a synthetic setting, we modify the<br />
number of interviewers and the number of interviews to obtain results with<br />
different sample sizes. As expected a higher number of interviews (by each<br />
interviewer) induces a more correct clustering, meaning that the identification of<br />
the cheating interviewers improves markedly.
Presenter<br />
Engel, Uwe; Dept. of Social Sciences, <strong>University</strong> of Bremen<br />
Authors:<br />
Uwe Engel; Simone Bartsch; Helen Vehre; <strong>University</strong> of Bremen<br />
Title<br />
Interviewer effects in the recruitment of a probability based access panel<br />
Abstract<br />
As part of the German Priority Programme on Survey Methodology<br />
(www.survey-methodology.de), large random telephone samples for the adult<br />
population of Germany were drawn to build up an access panel for the three<br />
survey modes fixed-line, mobile-phone, and online-interviewing. 14,200 realized<br />
interviews yielded a net panel size of 6,600 people.<br />
An accompanying interviewer survey was carried out to study possible<br />
interviewer ef-fects. In addition to that we conducted a study to evaluate the<br />
interviewers’ voices as well as communicative aspects of the initial contact<br />
situation. At the ASA Methodology Conference we would like to present first<br />
findings of this study on interviewer effects. Using the Mplus modelling<br />
framework we estimated two-level mod-els for categorical indicator variables<br />
and continuous latent factors. These models relate the probability of a full<br />
interview respectively the individual response propensity (within part) to several<br />
interviewer attitudes and beliefs at the between level (k=185 interviewers).<br />
Indica-tors include attitudes and beliefs about the possibility and necessity of<br />
convincing reluctant target persons, the acceptance of refusals, the emphasis of<br />
voluntariness, and the need to tailor the contact situation. All these information<br />
has been gathered prior to the fieldwork phase of the study.<br />
To estimate the effects of interviewers’ voice characteristics and perceived<br />
communica-tive aspects, we applied a two-step procedure. First, the individual<br />
response propensity was estimated as a function of a large set of paradata and<br />
survey data while allowing for random intercept variation at the interviewer<br />
level. Then, using again the Mplus modelling frame-work this response<br />
propensity (within part) is modelled at the between level as a function of some
asic voice characteristics (7 point scales including scales for vocal tone, quiet -<br />
loud tone, speaking fluently – hesitantly, perceiving the voice as<br />
agreeable – disagreeable, per-sonal – impersonal address, opening of the<br />
conversation with the target person appears as phrased freely – as read from a<br />
paper).
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION : Analysis of Rankings and Sequences<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Tim F. Liao tfliao@illinois.edu<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Illinois<br />
cut-e GmbH<br />
Katherina Lochner katharina.lochner@cut-e.com<br />
Nicola Barban nicola.barban@unibocconi.it<br />
Dondena Centre, Università Bocconi<br />
Brian Francis B.Francis@Lancaster.ac.uk<br />
Lancaster <strong>University</strong> & Regina Dittrich and Reinhold Hatzinger; Wirtschaftsuniversitaet,
Presenter<br />
Liao, Tim F.; <strong>University</strong> of Illinois<br />
Authors<br />
Tim F. Liao, <strong>University</strong> of Illinois; Anette Fasang, Yale <strong>University</strong><br />
Title<br />
A Permutation Test for Comparing Groups of Social Science Sequences<br />
Abstract<br />
Sequence analysis has seen recent advances as well as wider applications<br />
in the social sciences. However, no formal way exists in the literature for<br />
directly comparing groups of sequences to determine whether they are different<br />
in a statistically meaningful way. To fill this gap, we propose a permutation test<br />
for comparing groups of social science sequences. We view a typical social<br />
science sequence such as life-course or employment-history sequences as<br />
having certain characteristics such as transition to first marriage, first birth, or<br />
first job, that contribute some unique information. Therefore, in addition to<br />
proposing a permutation test for comparing overall sequence-group differences<br />
via sequence-based distance such as the Levenshtein distance, we propose to<br />
apply the permutation test on statistics that isolate specific aspects of<br />
sequences. Examples of such statistics include the relative frequency of<br />
transitions and the timing of certain events. We apply the test to both simulated<br />
groups of sequences and data from the German Life History Study (GLHS) on<br />
family formation of East and West German women.
Presenter<br />
Lochner, Katharina; cut-e GmbH<br />
Authors<br />
Katharina Lochner; Maike Wehrmaker; Achim Preuss; cut-e GmbH<br />
Title<br />
Normative, ipsative, and beyond<br />
Abstract<br />
For online personality tests, two formats are established: normative and<br />
ipsative. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Normative questionnaires<br />
are pleasant to answer for test takers because they can indicate for each item to<br />
what extent they agree, but the resulting profiles are not always as<br />
differentiated as desired by the evaluator. The ipsative format yields profiles<br />
with a much higher degree of differentiation, but is not as pleasant to answer for<br />
the test takers because they are forced to make a choice, no matter to what<br />
extent they agree. A third format that strives to combine the advantages of the<br />
two formats will be presented: adalloc (adaptive allocation of consent). Adalloc<br />
presents items in blocks and test takers have to make a choice, like the ipsative<br />
method. They do so by allocating points to the items. However, they are not<br />
required to allocate all points, and they may also allocate an equal number of<br />
points to all items, like in the normative format. The method allows for<br />
shortening the questionnaire because it weights the responses and thus the<br />
underlying concepts during the administration. Therefore, not all combinations of<br />
constructs assessed have to be presented to the test taker. The weights also<br />
allow for a high amount of differentiation between the constructs assessed.<br />
Therefore, the test administrator benefits from the format. And so does the test<br />
taker because the questionnaire is short, and decisions are not forced. It would<br />
be desirable to discuss after the presentation how IRT models can be applied to<br />
estimate item qualities when using the adalloc format.
Author and presenter<br />
Barban, Nicola; Dondena Centre, Università Bocconi; Centre for Population<br />
Studies, Ageing and Living Conditions programme, Umea <strong>University</strong><br />
Title<br />
Sequence analysis and causality. The effect of age at retirement on health using<br />
Swedish register data<br />
Abstract<br />
Life expectancy is increasing steadily in developed countries. Governments<br />
are seeking to increase the proportion of elderly people in paid employment to<br />
balance the ratio of employed people over dependent ones. This led to a<br />
considerable debate about the timing of retirement and its influence on health:<br />
is early retirement good or bad for your health? Several studies have shown that<br />
retirement at younger age has adverse effects on health (e.g., Westerlund and<br />
al. 2010, Hult and al., 2010). However, selection into retirement may obscure<br />
the effect of retirement on health. The individual decision to retire can be<br />
influenced by previous health trajectory, marital status and widowhood, social<br />
relations with relatives and work career. Moreover, the transition to retirement<br />
has become blurred, and the actual range of retirement age has expanded,<br />
making the transition “longer and fuzzier” (Kohli and Rein 1991; Han and<br />
Moen,1999). As a result, retirement is becoming more “destandardized” and<br />
“deinstitutionalized” (Guillemard and Rein 1993, Guillemard and van Gunsteren<br />
1991) with people anticipating retirement entering periods of inactivity or<br />
reducing their labor supply. Starting from this theoretical framework, we develop<br />
a new matching approach to investigate the causal effect of age at retirement on<br />
later health outcomes. Standard matching estimators (Rosembaum and Rubin<br />
1985) based on propensity score pair each treatment participant with a single<br />
(or multiple) non-treated participant based on a set of observed characteristics.<br />
However, we claim that selection into treatment can be affected by the<br />
trajectories of a set of observed characteristics before treatment. For this<br />
reason, using sequence analysis with Optimal Matching (OM) (Abbott, 1995), we<br />
develop a matching procedure based on the trajectory before treatment. Our<br />
method use an extension of nearest neighborhood matching estimator using OM<br />
distances. In this way we matched individuals with the most similar trajectory
efore retirement. We identify four different sources of selection into retirement:<br />
health trajectory, partnership trajectory, work career and family support history.<br />
We combine the four trajectories with a standard propensity score and develop a<br />
complex measure of dissimilarity among individuals. We use Swedish register<br />
data and we restrict the analysis to the cohort of people born in Sweden during<br />
1935. Our measure of outcome is the average days of hospitalization from<br />
retirement to age 71. We conduct separate analysis for different ages at<br />
retirement focusing on retirement between age 60 and 65. Our preliminary<br />
results confirm that early retirement is associated with poorer health outcomes.<br />
Once we control for selection issues the negative effect of retirement is<br />
negligible except for men and women who retire at age 60.
Author and presenter<br />
Francis, Brian<br />
Authors<br />
Brian Francis; Lancaster <strong>University</strong>, Regina Dittrich and Reinhold Hatzinger;<br />
Wirtschaftsuniversitaet, Vienna<br />
Title<br />
Modelling ranked survey data - a new approach accounting for covariates and<br />
latent heterogeneity.<br />
Abstract<br />
This talk focuses on the analysis of ranked survey response data and is<br />
motivated by a Eurobarometer survey on science knowledge. As part of the<br />
survey, respondents were asked to rank sources of science information in order<br />
of importance. The official statistical analysis of these data examined only the<br />
first two rank positions, and the percentage of times a source was mentioned in<br />
either the first or second position was reported. This failed to use all the<br />
information available in the dataset.<br />
Another issue concerns the heterogeneity of ranked responses. We might<br />
suppose that there is variability in the ranks across individuals which can be<br />
explained either through known covariates or through a random effects<br />
formulation which would incorporate the effect of unknown and unmeasured<br />
covariates.<br />
In this talk we propose a method which treats ranked data as a set of<br />
paired comparisons which places the problem in the standard framework of<br />
generalized linear models. This formulation also allows respondent covariates to<br />
be incorporated. The model can be interpreted through the worths of each item,<br />
and the effects of covariates on the worths.<br />
An extension is proposed to allow for heterogeneity in the ranked<br />
responses. The resulting model uses a nonparametric formulation of the random<br />
effects structure, fitted using the EM algorithm. Each mass point is multivalued,<br />
with a parameter for each item and masspoint. The resultant model is equivalent<br />
to a covariate latent class model, where the latent class profiles are provided by<br />
the mass point components and the covariates act on the class profiles. This
provides an alternative interpretation of the fitted model. The approach is also<br />
suitable for paired comparison data.<br />
Using age and sex as covariates, we found that a six class solution gave the best<br />
solution. Both age and sex were important in explaining the ranked responses.<br />
The six classes are interpretable in terms of different response profiles, and may<br />
be explained through omitted covariates such as degree of urbanisation and<br />
country.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION: Statistical Social Network Analysis<br />
SUMMARY<br />
by Johan Koskinen (chair of the session) johan.koskinen@gmail.com<br />
Social network analysis (SNA) is concerned with the study of social<br />
interaction among social actors. Introduced as Sociometry, SNA was formalised<br />
using graph theory with the obvious analogue in the social world of nodes and<br />
edges being people connected by social relations. While visual and mathematical<br />
analysis, as well as rudimentary tests against simple null-models, has been in<br />
use since at least the thirties it is only in the last forty or thirty years that<br />
progress has been made in statistical modelling of networks and the<br />
dependencies these induce among observations. We deal here with small<br />
networks (under a thousand individuals) where we assume binary relational<br />
measurement for all of the pairs of individuals.<br />
Presenters:<br />
Josh Lospinoso lospinos@stats.ox.ac.uk<br />
Dept. of Statistics, <strong>University</strong> of Oxford, U.K.<br />
Marijtje van Duijn m.a.j.van.duijn@rug.nl<br />
Dept. Sociology, <strong>University</strong> of Groningen, the Netherlands.<br />
Mark Huisman and Christian Steglich j.m.e.huisman@rug.nl<br />
Dept. Sociology, <strong>University</strong> of Groningen, the Netherlands<br />
Nial Friel nial.friel@ucd.ie<br />
School of Mathematical Sciences, <strong>University</strong> College Dublin, Ireland
Author and presenter<br />
Lospinoso, Joshua A.; Dept. of Statistics, <strong>University</strong> of Oxford<br />
Title<br />
Joint inference on informant accuracy and social network dynamics<br />
Abstract<br />
To date, models for social network dynamics have been formulated<br />
(perhaps implicitly) in such a manner that complete trust is bestowed upon the<br />
observed data; the observed data panels are taken for the true state of<br />
relationships and data augmentation proceeds by constructing chains that could<br />
have connected them. This trend of placing complete trust in the data follows<br />
the general social networks literature. However, the extensive literature on<br />
informant accuracy suggests that placing such trust in the observed data as a<br />
representation of the true state of relations may be a tenuous proposition.<br />
In this talk, a flexible class of models is considered which relaxes the strict<br />
trustin observed network data.<br />
This intermediate model for informant accuracy can represent basic noise with<br />
some false positive rate and some false negative rate and be elaborated by<br />
random and fixed effects models. Bayesian ideas can be leveraged, as the notion<br />
of genuine prior belief about informant accuracy may be particularly appropriate.<br />
Further, the exponential random graph (ERG) family of models can be naturally<br />
employed for this purpose. In this sense, the model is a generalization of the<br />
Stochastic Actor Oriented Models of Snijders (2001) which permits joint<br />
inference on the social network dynamics and on the informant accuracy.
Author and presenter<br />
Duijn van, Marijtje; Dept. Sociology, Groningen <strong>University</strong><br />
Title<br />
Social Network Analysis of Gossip Triads<br />
Abstract<br />
A model for binary three-way social network data is presented relating the<br />
probability of a tie to individual properties of the actors, network relations that<br />
may exist between any pair of them, possibly available three-way characteristics<br />
of them as a triplet, and a number of random components, taking care of the<br />
dependence between the triads.<br />
The model was motivated by a study investigating how instrumental and<br />
expressive ties influence gossip in employee triads. Two models were estimated<br />
for positive and negative gossip, whose results indicate different mechanisms of<br />
cowork (instrumental ties) and friendship (expressive ties) for the two types of<br />
gossip.<br />
The model is estimated using WINBUGS.
Author and presenter<br />
Huisman, Mark; Dept. Sociology, Groningen <strong>University</strong><br />
Title<br />
Statistical models for ties and actors<br />
Abstract<br />
An overview of statistical models that can deal with the combination of<br />
cross-sectional network data and and individual actor and/or dyadic attributes is<br />
presented. These models can be categorized by the type of research question<br />
they can answer, either focusing on the relationships (ties) or on explaining<br />
differences at the individual level (actors). The accompanying models are on the<br />
one hand (logistic) regression-type models with a complex dependence<br />
structure, predicting the occurrence or strength of ties or stochastic block<br />
models classifying or grouping the actors in the network. The models are<br />
presented and compared using an example data set. Some attention will be<br />
given to available software for the estimation of the models.
Author and presenter<br />
Friel, Nial; School of Mathematical Sciences, <strong>University</strong> College Dublin<br />
Title<br />
Bayesian inference for the exponential random graph model<br />
Abstract<br />
This talk will present a new approach to carry out inference for the<br />
exponential random graph model. The exponential random graph is very widely<br />
used in the analysis of social networks, yet from a statistical view point it<br />
presents many difficulties, mostly notably because the likelihood cannot be<br />
evaluated for reasonably sized networks. The approach which we describe here,<br />
sidesteps these difficulties to a certain extent. The algorithm which we use to<br />
perform Bayesian inference is based on a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm<br />
and is therefore simulation-based -- it relies on the ability to able to draw<br />
networks exactly from the likelihood model. We outline how this algorithm can<br />
be extended to also yield estimates of the marginal likelihood or model evidence,<br />
thereby allowing one to make probability statements about the uncertainty of<br />
the statistical model itself. We will present several examples of how this<br />
methodology performs, and will also outline how it may be used using the<br />
statistical software R.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION: Bayesian Methods<br />
SUMMARY<br />
Often researchers have an expectation about the ordering of the model<br />
parameters. This can be directly evaluated using Bayesian statistics. In this, one<br />
uses prior knowledge with respect to the model parameters. There are several<br />
ways of specifying the prior.<br />
The first speaker will go into detail in specifying reasonable and relevant priors.<br />
Then, Bayesian hypothesis testing is addressed. Subsequently, Bayesian factor<br />
analysis is discussed. Finally, a demonstration of combining evidence regarding<br />
multiple studies is given.<br />
Presenters:<br />
Rebecca Kuiper (chair of the session) r.m.kuiper@uu.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht <strong>University</strong><br />
Ruud Wetzels R.M.Wetzels@uva.nl<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Amsterdam, the Netherlands<br />
Carel Peeters C.F.W.Peeters@uu.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht <strong>University</strong><br />
Floryt van Wesel F.vanWesel@uu.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht <strong>University</strong>
Presenter<br />
Kuiper, Rebecca M.; Dept. Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht <strong>University</strong><br />
Authors<br />
R. M. Kuiper and H. Hoijtink<br />
Title<br />
Combining Statistical Evidence from Several Studies<br />
Abstract<br />
The effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable is often<br />
evaluated with hypothesis testing. Sometimes, multiple studies are available<br />
that test the same hypothesis.<br />
In such studies the dependent variable and the main predictors might differ,<br />
while they do measure the same theoretical concepts.<br />
In this presentation, I demonstrate a Bayesian method that can be used<br />
to quantify the joint evidence in multiple studies regarding the effect of one<br />
variable of interest. The method proposed here quantifies evidence for the<br />
hypothesis at hand using Bayesian model selection. By way of example, the<br />
method is applied to four studies from economic sociology and social dilemma<br />
research on how trust in social and economic exchange depends on learning<br />
effects through dyadic embeddedness, i.e., experience from previous exchange<br />
with the same partner. Subsequently, simulation shows that our method has<br />
good frequency properties.
Author and presenter<br />
Wetzels, Ruud; <strong>University</strong> of Amsterdam<br />
Title<br />
A Default Bayesian Hypothesis Test for ANOVA Designs<br />
Abstract<br />
We outline a Bayesian hypothesis test for ANOVA designs. The test is an<br />
application of a default Bayesian method for variable selection in regression<br />
models. One advantage of this test is that the user does not need to specify<br />
priors through subjective elicitation. We believe that this Bayesian test for<br />
ANOVA designs is useful for empirical researchers and for students; both groups<br />
will get a more acute appreciation of Bayesian inference when they can apply it<br />
to practical statistical problems such as ANOVA.
Presenter<br />
Peeters, Carel; Dept. Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht <strong>University</strong><br />
Authors<br />
Carel F.W. Peeters and Herbert Hoijtink<br />
Dept. Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht <strong>University</strong><br />
Title<br />
Inequality Constrained Conrmatory Factor Analysis: Bayesian Specication and<br />
Model Selection<br />
Abstract:<br />
An important topic in factor analysis (FA) is the restriction of parameters.<br />
A Bayesian framework is proposed which takes restriction of parameters in the<br />
context of confirmatory FA beyond the purpose of identification and prevention<br />
of impermissible estimates by allowing inequality and approximate equality<br />
constraints to express substantive theoretical ideas regarding direction and<br />
magnitude of effect of factor loadings. We are subsequently interested in the<br />
demarcation of competing inequality constrained formulations of factor analytic<br />
correlation structure.
Presenter<br />
Wesel van, Floryt; Dept. Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht <strong>University</strong><br />
Authors<br />
Floryt van Wesel and Hennie Boeije; Dept. of Methodology and Statistics,<br />
Utrecht <strong>University</strong><br />
Title<br />
Priors & Prejudice: Using existing knowledge in social science research<br />
Abstract<br />
Using Bayesian statistics implies the use of prior distributions. These prior<br />
distributions can contain information about the topic at hand that is already<br />
known from previous research. In this presentation we discuss how to acquire<br />
such existing information on the one hand and how to translate this information<br />
into a statistical prior distribution on the other hand. For the information part of<br />
the prior distribution we use three sources to formulate a single integrated<br />
theoretical model. The sources are: meta-analysis, qualitative synthesis and<br />
expert elicitation. The results that emerge from each individual source will be<br />
used to formulate an inequality constrained hypothesis. The three hypotheses<br />
are then integrated leading to an overall hypothesis representing the integrated<br />
model. This overall hypothesis is the existing information that determines the<br />
first part of the prior distribution. As the hypothesis does not contain any<br />
numerical information to base a statistical prior distribution on, we update a<br />
non-informative prior with a small part of the data, called a training sample. The<br />
final prior distribution consists of a combination of the information in the<br />
inequality constrained hypothesis and the training sample. The case we use to<br />
exemplify this procedure is that of factors influencing the development of post-<br />
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children who have gone through trauma.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION : Reliability, Stability and Discrimination<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Peter M. Kruyen p.m.kruyen@uvt.nl<br />
<strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Jarl Kampen jarl.kampen@wur.nl<br />
Wageningen <strong>University</strong> and Research Centre<br />
Marcel Noack<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Duisburg-Essen marcel.noack@uni-due.de
Author and presenter<br />
Kampen, Jarl; Wageningen <strong>University</strong> and Research Centre<br />
Title<br />
Ferguson's and Hankin's delta revisited: Towards a renewed interest in the<br />
discriminating power of tests<br />
Abstract<br />
Discriminating power is a characteristic of health indices, tests and<br />
questionnaires that is crucial for use of test scores in practice. Recently, renewed<br />
attention has been paid to Ferguson's Coefficient of Test Discrimination (delta)<br />
for test scores based on dichotomous items, and an extension thereof that<br />
quantifies discrimination for test scores based on polytomous ordinal items. In<br />
this article, four potential problems relating to Ferguson's delta and Hankins'<br />
recent generalization are discussed. Alternative methods of analysis that test for<br />
certain aspects of discriminative power are proposed.<br />
The properties of Ferguson's delta and its generalization are illustrated by<br />
mathematical argument, numerical examples, and the analysis of a real data set<br />
consisting of ordinal scaled items (WHOQOL-BREF Domain 2).<br />
It is shown that 1) Ferguson's delta in practical applications its maximal<br />
value cannot be attained which obfuscates interpretation, 2) its statistical<br />
significance cannot be computed reliably, 3) it is insensitive to the fineness of<br />
test scores and 4) it is insensitive to variation in discriminating power over the<br />
range of possible test scores.<br />
It is concluded that the renewed attention for discriminative power can<br />
help improve measurement in health. However, Ferguson's delta is not the most<br />
effective coefficient for this purpose. The proposed alternative methods are<br />
promising but require further assessment.
Author and presenter<br />
Kruyen, Peter M.; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Test length and decision making: When is short too short?<br />
Abstract<br />
To efficiently assess multiple psychological attributes and to minimize the<br />
burden on patients, psychologists increasingly use shortened versions of existing<br />
tests. Meanwhile, the importance of psychological testing has increased. For<br />
example, patients are routinely measured to monitor their progress in the course<br />
of a therapy and to evaluate treatment programs. These measurements are not<br />
only used to evaluate changes in the individual patient, but they are also used<br />
by insurance companies to make financial decisions on whether or not to<br />
reimburse certain treatment programs. However, the shortened tests are less<br />
reliable compared to long tests and may therefore substantially impair reliable<br />
decision-making.<br />
In this study, we reviewed recent trends in the use of short tests and<br />
examined the impact of test length reduction on individual decision-making.<br />
First, we present the results of a literature review on the use and validation of<br />
abbreviated tests in psychology. Second, we present the results of simulation<br />
studies comparing the risks of making incorrect decisions for the long and<br />
abbreviated tests. These simulations showed that the number of items needed to<br />
take decisions about patients depends on various factors including the<br />
application envisaged. For some applications five to ten items are sufficient,<br />
whereas in other applications one needs at least twenty items.
Author and presenter<br />
Noack, Marcel; <strong>University</strong> of Duisburg-Essen<br />
Title<br />
Reliability and stability of the "Alone in the dark" indicator<br />
Abstract<br />
The measurement of fear of crime with the classical fear of crime indicator<br />
has a long tradition. Despite the rich discussion on its doubtful usefulness, no<br />
estimates for the reliability of this indicator as a necessary condition for validity<br />
are available. Using panel data from the British Household Panel Survey and the<br />
German DEFECT project, the reliability and stability of the classical fear of crime<br />
indicator are estimated using quasi-Markov simplex models for the first time. A<br />
crucial assumption of these models is that only the measurement in the<br />
preceding wave has an influence on the answer of a respondent. This<br />
assumption appears to be violated in the given data. One plausible explanation<br />
could be the respondents' reactions to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, which took<br />
place between the waves."
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION : Qualitative and Mixed Methods<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Daniela P. Blettner d.p.blettner@uvt.nl<br />
<strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Economics and Management<br />
Anna Kuchenkova a.kuchenkova@rggu.ru<br />
Russian state university for the humanities<br />
Meike Morren m.morren@uvt.nl<br />
<strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Presenter<br />
Blettner, Daniela P.;<br />
Dept. of Organisation and Strategy,<br />
<strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Economics and Management<br />
Authors<br />
Daniela P. Blettner<br />
Philipp Tuertscher; Vienna <strong>University</strong> (Austria)<br />
Title<br />
Comparative assessment of three content analysis methods for research on<br />
organizational attention<br />
Abstract<br />
Content analysis has gained great interest in strategic management<br />
research and organization studies for revealing organizational attention.<br />
Although these methods are now moving more into the main stream of strategic<br />
management, researchers do not have a clear understanding of the various<br />
methods and their respective strengths and weaknesses. In this paper, we<br />
compare three major approaches to content analysis: causal mapping,<br />
frequency-based analyses, and psychological linguistic analyses. We assess the<br />
insights that can be gained from these three methods in a study based on<br />
longitudinal data from the US airline industry.
Author and presenter<br />
Kuchenkova, Anna; Russian state university for the humanities<br />
Title<br />
Analysis of causes by means of two logical – combinatorial methods: QCA and<br />
JSM-method<br />
Abstract<br />
The aim of the paper is to examine two non-statistical methods of causal<br />
relation analysis. First of them, QCA is an approach (introduced by C.С. Ragin in<br />
the late 1980-s), including several techniques of formalized comparative analysis<br />
for small- and intermediate-N research designs. Second, JSM-method is a<br />
method of automatic hypotheses generation in intelligent data analysis, that is<br />
used for analysis of respondents’ opinions (introduced by V.K. Finn in the early<br />
1980-s).<br />
Both methods have a lot of in common, though they were devised<br />
independently at the same time. Firstly, they are non – probabilistic methods,<br />
based on mathematical logic (Boolean algebra, fuzzy set, predicate logic).<br />
Secondly, they have the same epistemological foundation - ideas of J.S. Mill (his<br />
“method of agreement”, “method of difference”, “joint method of agreement and<br />
differences” are formalized in QCA and JSM-method). Thirdly, they imply the<br />
same interpretation of causality as a combination of necessary and sufficient<br />
conditions that lead to a certain output. Fourthly, these methods are labeled as<br />
formalized qualitative methods; which combine elements of quantitative and<br />
qualitative research. From the one hand, these methods imply analysis of rigidly<br />
structured data, description of objects through a set of variables. From the other<br />
hand, these methods implement inductive strategy of data analysis: individual<br />
cases are examined in order to find out similarities and differences, empirical<br />
regularities. So it is a process of generalization, during which hypotheses are not<br />
testing, on the contrary, they are generated, what accords to the logic of<br />
qualitative research. Finely, QCA and JSM-method are intended for discovery of<br />
interconnection between values of different variables. They constitute a special<br />
group of methods among the methods of causal relationship analysis.
Presenter<br />
Morren, Meike; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Authors<br />
Meike Morren; John P.T.M. Gelissen; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral<br />
Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Response Strategies and Response Styles in Cross-Cultural Surveys<br />
Abstract<br />
This paper addresses the following research questions: Do respondents<br />
participating in cross-cultural surveys differ in terms of their response style and<br />
response strategy when responding to attitude statements, and if so are these<br />
characteristics affecting the response process associated with a respondent’s<br />
ethnicity and generation of immigration? To answer these questions we<br />
conducted a mixed method study. Quantitative analysis of a large representative<br />
sample of minorities in the Netherlands shows that cross-cultural differences in<br />
responding can partly be explained by a differential response style. These<br />
differences in response style turn out to be related to the generation of<br />
immigration, both in the representative sample and in a purposively selected<br />
qualitative sample of persons belonging to the same four cultural groups.<br />
Analysis of cognitive interviews performed with the latter shows that<br />
respondents use three types of response strategies to overcome the difficulties<br />
of responding to survey items in a cross-cultural survey. The selected response<br />
strategy turns out to be strongly related to a respondent’s generation of<br />
immigration.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION: Dealing with Measurement Inequivalence in Cross Cultural<br />
Research<br />
SUMMARY<br />
by Guy Moors (chair of the session) guy.moors@uvt.nl<br />
Cross-cultural comparative research has become inevitable in a globalizing<br />
society. Researchers are becoming increasingly aware that solid comparative<br />
research is not a straightforward matter. Cultural groups may not only differ in<br />
attitudes and values, but may assign different meanings to the questions asked<br />
to measure attitudes and values. The latter issue is the topic of the papers that<br />
are presented in this session, i.e. testing for measurement equivalence in cross-<br />
cultural research. The papers include methodological advances as well as<br />
applications.<br />
Presenters:<br />
Alain De Beuckelaer a.debeuckelaer@fm.ru.nl<br />
Radboud <strong>University</strong> Nijmegen, the Netherlands<br />
Eldad Davidov / Hermann Dülmer davidov@soziologie.uzh.ch<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Zurich / <strong>University</strong> of Cologne hduelmer@uni-koeln.de<br />
Miloš Kankaraš m.kankarash@uvt.nl<br />
Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Bart Meuleman bart.meuleman@soc.kuleuven.be<br />
Catholic <strong>University</strong> of Leuven, Belgium
Presenter<br />
Beuckelaer De, Alain; Radboud <strong>University</strong> Nijmegen<br />
Authors<br />
Nele Libbrecht; Ghent <strong>University</strong><br />
Alain De Beuckelaer; Ghent <strong>University</strong>, Belgium; Renmin <strong>University</strong> China, P.R.<br />
China; and Radboud <strong>University</strong> Nijmegen<br />
Filip Lievens; Ghent <strong>University</strong><br />
Thomas Rockstuhl; Nanyang Business School<br />
Title<br />
Measurement Invariance of the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale<br />
Scores: Does the Measurement Structure Hold Across Far Eastern and European<br />
Countries?<br />
Abstract<br />
In recent years, emotional intelligence and emotional intelligence<br />
measures have been widely examined in a plethora of countries and cultures.<br />
This is also the case for the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS),<br />
prompting the importance of examining whether the WLEIS is invariant across<br />
regions other than the Far Eastern region (China) where it was originally<br />
developed. This study investigated the measurement invariance of the WLEIS<br />
scores across two countries, namely Singapore (N = 505) and Belgium (N =<br />
339). Results showed that the measurement structure underlying the WLEIS<br />
ratings was invariant across these different countries as there was no departure<br />
from measurement invariance in terms of factor form, factor pattern coefficients,<br />
and factor intercorrelations. The scalar invariance model was partially supported.<br />
These results show promise for the equivalence of the WLEIS scores across<br />
different countries. Future research is needed to further test the equivalence<br />
across other countries and samples.
Presenters<br />
Davidov, Eldad; <strong>University</strong> of Zurich<br />
Dülmer, Hermann; <strong>University</strong> of Cologne<br />
Authors<br />
Eldad Davidov; <strong>University</strong> of Zurich<br />
Hermann Dülmer; <strong>University</strong> of Cologne<br />
Elmar Schlüter; <strong>University</strong> of Cologne<br />
Peter Schmidt; State <strong>University</strong> Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow<br />
Title<br />
Explanation of Cross-Cultural Measurement In-equivalence using a Multilevel<br />
Structural Equation Modeling Approach<br />
Abstract<br />
Testing for equivalence of measurements across groups (such as countries<br />
or time points) is essential before meaningful comparisons of correlates and<br />
means may be conducted. However, often equivalence is not present and, as a<br />
result, comparisons across groups are problematic and biased. Scalar<br />
equivalence is only seldom supported by the data. In the current study we<br />
propose utilizing a multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to<br />
model and explain scalar in-equivalence. This method does not resolve in-<br />
equivalence but rather illuminates why it is present. We illustrate the method<br />
using data on human values (Schwartz 1992) from the second round of the<br />
European Social Survey. Thus, a new direction for research even when<br />
equivalence is not present is proposed.<br />
Key words: Human values; Configural, metric, and scalar equivalence;<br />
Multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) / Multilevel structural equation<br />
modelling (SEM); European Social Survey; Comparisons over time and/or<br />
countries.
Presenter<br />
Kankaraš, Miloš; Dept. Methodology and Statistics, <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and<br />
Behavioral Sciences<br />
Authors<br />
Miloš Kankaraš and Guy Moors; <strong>Tilburg</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
Title<br />
Cross-National and Cross-Ethnic Differences in Attitudes. How do minorities’<br />
attitudes align?<br />
Abstract<br />
Minorities’ attitudes can be compared to attitudes of fellow citizen within<br />
the host country as well as to attitudes of the motherland. Given the<br />
heterogeneity of Luxembourg’s minority groups, this country is a relevant<br />
example case in which the comparison needs to involve answering a two-folded<br />
question. First we analyze the level of measurement equivalence, i.e. the extent<br />
to which different groups can be compared. Secondly, we examine whether<br />
ethnic-cultural groups within Luxembourg resemble citizens from their native<br />
country more than their country of residence. Using EVS-date from 2008 we<br />
demonstrate different types of outcomes. Results indicated that cultural<br />
background is more important than national context in the case of culturally<br />
more distant minorities to Luxembourg’s resident population, and that national<br />
setting is the prevailing factor when minorities are from neighboring countries.<br />
The effect of a common national setting is also important with regards to the<br />
issue of measurement equivalence, where it contributes to greater comparability<br />
of intra-national, cross-ethnic comparisons.
Author and presenter<br />
Meuleman, Bart; Catholic <strong>University</strong> Leuven<br />
Title<br />
When are item intercept differences substantial in measurement equivalence<br />
testing? An application on ESS data.<br />
Abstract<br />
Applied comparative researchers are becoming increasingly aware of the<br />
issue of measurement equivalence. By now, there exists considerable agreement<br />
on the concrete operationalization and implications of (the various levels of)<br />
measurement equivalence. Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA)<br />
has become widely recognized as a useful statistical tool to test for equivalence.<br />
In this framework, measurement equivalence is assessed by constraining certain<br />
parameters – e.g. factor loadings or item intercepts - across groups.<br />
Despite growing consensus, important issues in equivalence testing by<br />
means of MGCFA remain unresolved. One of the most compelling problems<br />
related to the specific criteria that should be used to decide whether an equality<br />
constraint is violated or not. Various authors warn against relying on statistical<br />
criteria alone, because due to the large sample sizes often used, even negligible<br />
differences between groups can become significant. Saris et al. (2009) suggest<br />
that one should only pay attention to substantial model misspecifications (i.e.<br />
with a high expected parameter change).<br />
Yet, how large should differences between groups be to be judged as<br />
substantial? This paper proposes a concrete strategy to predict whether<br />
differences in item intercepts will have perceivable impact on substantial<br />
conclusions drawn from latent mean comparisons. The proposed strategy is<br />
applied using European Social Survey (round 4) data on welfare attitudes.<br />
Key words<br />
Measurement equivalence, MGCFA, European Social Survey
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION : Survey Methodology (Data Collection)<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Shishi Chen chenshishi@gmail.com<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Hong Kong<br />
Britta Busse busse@ifs.tu-darmstadt.de<br />
Darmstadt <strong>University</strong> of Technology<br />
Jorre van Nieuwenhuyze jorre.vannieuwenhuyze@soc.kuleuven.be<br />
Catholic <strong>University</strong>, Leuven<br />
Mark Trappmann mark.trappmann@iab.de<br />
Institute for Employment Research; <strong>University</strong> of Leipzig
Author and presenter<br />
Chen Shishi; <strong>University</strong> of Hong Kong<br />
Title<br />
Survey errors and fieldwork recommendation from a call back survey in Mainland<br />
China<br />
Abstract<br />
Fixed lines and mobile phones have been widely used as national<br />
telephone survey tools and there are many studies of fixed line and mobile<br />
phone survey methodology and comparing telephone surveys with other survey<br />
modes.<br />
This paper builds upon a great opportunity for methodological work on<br />
fixed line and mobile phone surveys in Mainland China, using a follow-up survey<br />
interviewing the respondents from a prior face-to-face survey. This is innovative.<br />
Understanding the challenges in fixed line and mobile phone surveys in Mainland<br />
China is a very topical issue in the field of survey research and the results can be<br />
used to study survey errors and contribute to that literature as well as to<br />
improve the quality of survey fieldwork procedures.<br />
A database with telephone contact information for 4041 individuals was<br />
obtained from a household survey in Mainland China, for which the Social<br />
Sciences Research Centre of the <strong>University</strong> of Hong Kong was commissioned to<br />
conduct a follow-up telephone survey of the same individuals. The households<br />
were sampled randomly for the first wave national face-to-face survey and the<br />
individuals are respondents who left their telephone numbers after the face-toface<br />
survey and accepted in principle a call back interview within two weeks.<br />
This paper details global telephone coverage over the past ten years and<br />
identifies the trends over time by geographical region and level of development<br />
in Mainland China, including both fixed lines and mobile phones.<br />
This paper analyzes the quality of the face-to-face database and the<br />
outcomes of the call back survey. As the demographics of respondents and nonrespondents<br />
were known from the database, studies of the influence of day,<br />
time, household demographics and individual demographics on the first and<br />
second contact attempt outcomes were undertaken using logistic regression. The<br />
findings include an effective calling design to improve telephone survey field<br />
work strategy and contribute valuable information for further studies in Mainland<br />
China.
Presenter<br />
Busse, Britta; Darmstadt <strong>University</strong> of Technology<br />
Authors<br />
Marek Fuchs; Britta Busse; Darmstadt <strong>University</strong> of Technology<br />
Title<br />
Using an adaptive design in gaining cooperation. Enhancing the recruitment<br />
success in a mobile phone panel survey<br />
Abstract<br />
In recent years declining response and cooperation rates have become a<br />
serious threat to all kinds of surveys. This implies one, reduced sample sizes and<br />
therefore inflating standard errors and decreasing accuracy of survey results,<br />
and two, a potential increase of non-response biases since the population of<br />
survey respondents might differ significantly from the non-responding<br />
population. Both effects have especially severe consequences for panel surveys<br />
since panel studies require large initial samples due to panel attrition (which<br />
reduces sample size in addition to initial non-response). Also, non-response<br />
biases that might be introduced into the panel will be carried on into every<br />
following panel wave. Thus, when recruiting for a panel survey it is necessary to<br />
avoid initial refusals and increase cooperation with the help of an effective<br />
recruitment question wording. A common practice used in the initial phase of<br />
telephone interviews in order to gain cooperation allays respondents’ concerns<br />
with an appropriate interviewer statement addressing the respondents’ qualms.<br />
We propose that – similar to these proactive interviewer persuasion statements<br />
in the beginning of telephone interviews - a respondent-tailored conviction<br />
strategy could enhance the success of a panel recruitment question. In practice<br />
this could be implemented by differential recruitment question versions among<br />
which the most promising one will be presented to the respondent, chosen based<br />
on questions already answered by the respondent like survey attitudes items.<br />
In this paper we will present results from a recruitment survey (n=1,600)<br />
conducted in Germany for refreshing an ongoing mobile phone panel. We tested<br />
four different recruitment question versions in a randomized between-subjects
design, each emphasizing a specific notion directly linked to potential causes of<br />
non-response (=declining further panel participation). In the interview section<br />
prior to the panel recruitment question we also measured corresponding survey<br />
attitudes. This design allows us to determine the effectiveness of the various<br />
recruitment question versions with respect to subgroups of respondents who are<br />
prone to specific positive or negative survey attitudes. We will discuss results in<br />
light of an adaptive recruitment strategy that matches the recruitment question<br />
wording to previously answered survey attitude items. In addition to recruitment<br />
success (proportion of respondents agreeing to further panel participation) we<br />
also examine potential non-response biases that might be introduced in the<br />
panel due to selective panel cooperation.
Author and presenter<br />
Nieuwenhuyze, Jorre van; Catholic <strong>University</strong>, Leuven<br />
Title<br />
Evaluating mode effects on moments of continuous variables in mixed mode<br />
data<br />
Abstract<br />
Mixed mode surveys are surveys where data of different respondents is<br />
gathered by different survey modes. To research the quality gain of mixed mode<br />
surveys relative to single mode surveys, selection effects between the modes<br />
should be evaluated. Nevertheless, direct estimation of selection effects is<br />
difficult because they are completely confounded with measurement effects of<br />
the modes. This paper first discusses the shortcomings and problems of the<br />
common methods to disentangle mode effects reported in the existing literature.<br />
Next, it discusses a recent technique which avoids the former problems and<br />
which can be used as an alternative method within certain circumstances. This<br />
paper aims to broaden this technique to mode effects estimations on the<br />
moments of continuous variables (with special attention to means and<br />
covariances). Data of a mixed mode experiment parallel to the European Social<br />
Survey will be used for illustration.
Author and presenter<br />
Trappmann, Mark<br />
Co-Author<br />
Antje Kirchner; Institute for Employment Research; <strong>University</strong> of Leipzig<br />
Title<br />
Eliciting illicit work. Item Count and Randomized Response Technique put to the<br />
test<br />
Abstract<br />
We address an ongoing debate how to assess sensitive topics in telephone<br />
surveys. Examining three existing methods and implementing one new method,<br />
we developed a module to measure illicit work and tested this in two CATI<br />
studies (both conducted in 2010). In an experimental setting, we compare a<br />
double-list implementation of the Item Count Technique (ICT) with direct<br />
questioning as well as a forced-response implementation of the Randomized<br />
Response Technique (RRT) with direct questioning. In the first study (ICT;<br />
n=1.603), respondents were selected from the German general population. In<br />
the second study (RRT; n=3.211), respondents of two specific populations were<br />
sampled from a register: employed persons and those qualifying for basic<br />
income support in Germany, i.e. people depending on state transfer payments.<br />
Goal of the studies is to evaluate which method elicits more socially<br />
undesirable answers in the context of illicit work and moonlighting, particularly<br />
with regard to the specific mode of data collection and different subpopulations.<br />
Furthermore, we developed a novel method which can be applied to the<br />
measurement of sensitive metric variables. This method requires no randomizer<br />
and can be easily administered in CATI surveys. Also, in both studies data on a<br />
number of background variables were collected that, according to theory, foster<br />
illicit work. These theories are empirically tested and the results are briefly<br />
discussed in the paper.
The ASA Spring Methodology Conference<br />
Organized in Europe by the Department of Methodology and Statistics at <strong>Tilburg</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>, the Netherlands.<br />
SESSION : Item Response Theory<br />
PRESENTERS:<br />
Wilco H.M Emons w.h.m.emons@uvt.nl<br />
<strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Hendrik J.H.Straat j.h.straat@uvt.nl<br />
<strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Marie Anne Mittelhaëuser m.mittelhaeuser@uvt.nl<br />
<strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences/CITO<br />
Rosalie Gorter r.gorter@vumc.nl<br />
VUmc, Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Author and presenter<br />
Emons, Wilco H.M.; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
On the Usefulness of Latent Variable Hybrid Models to Distinguish Categories<br />
from Dimensions<br />
Abstract<br />
In this presentation, we discuss the usefulness of latent variable hybrid<br />
models, including latent class item response theory and item response theory<br />
mixture models, to distinguish qualitative from quantitative individual differences<br />
on multidimensional psychological attributes. Different latent variable hybrid<br />
approaches will be discussed and contrasted with traditional approaches<br />
including taxometrics. Results from empirical data analysis and simulation<br />
studies will be presented and limitations and implications for future research will<br />
be discussed. As an example, we use distressed personality, which refers to a<br />
general propensity to psychological distress defined by the combination of two<br />
distinct personality attributes, negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI).<br />
Currently, persons are categorized as Type D if they score above a certain cutoff<br />
on both NA and SI dimension and as non-Type D otherwise. We used latent<br />
variable hybrid models to advance the current debate as to whether individual<br />
differences in distressed personality should be conceived as representing gradual<br />
differences on its constituent continuous NA and SI dimensions rather than as a<br />
categorical Type D/non-Type D dichotomy.
Author and presenter<br />
Gorter, Rosalie; VUmc, Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, EMGO+<br />
institute of health and care research<br />
Authors<br />
Rosalie Gorter; Martijn W. Heymans; Jos W.R. Twisk; VUmc, Dept. of<br />
Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Emgo+ Institute of Health and Care Research.<br />
Michiel R. de Boer, VU <strong>University</strong>, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Institute for<br />
Health Sciences, Dept.of Methodology and Applied Biostatistics.<br />
Rien van der Leeden, Leiden <strong>University</strong>, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute<br />
Psychology, Methodology & Statistics.<br />
Title<br />
Comparing the performance of software packages in estimating the parameters<br />
of multilevel IRT models for longitudinal data<br />
Background<br />
Many questionnaires used in patient research consist of items with a likert<br />
answering scale. An example is the increasing utilization of quality of life<br />
questionnaires in epidemiological and medical research. When the answers on<br />
such questionnaire are used as outcome variable, usually a score is attached to<br />
the answering categories and these scores are than added in order to obtain a<br />
total score for the construct. A theoretically more appropriate way of analyzing<br />
these data is by using an IRT model that estimates item and person parameters.<br />
An adjacent category (ordinal) logit model can be used to estimate the<br />
probability of a person to choose a specific category given his or her level of the<br />
latent variable theta. In addition to using IRT specific software packages for such<br />
analysis, the models can also be formulated as hierarchical models and analyzed<br />
with general software packages. An important advantage of this reformulation is<br />
that levels can be added for analyzing longitudinal or otherwise clustered data.<br />
There are several different software packages for fitting ordinal logit models<br />
which are capable of estimating the parameters for this type of longitudinal data.<br />
However, these packages use different estimation methods which may lead to<br />
different estimates depending on the combination of parameter specific<br />
characteristics of the data such as sample size, item and person characteristics.
The aim of this study therefore is to compare these packages with respect to<br />
parameter estimates and user friendliness.<br />
Method and results<br />
Datasets were simulated under several conditions with variation in the number<br />
of participants. Results from multilevel IRT analyses in different software<br />
packages are compared on their precision of estimating parameters, and the<br />
time and number of iterations needed for convergence. We started our analysis<br />
in GLLAMM (Stata) and as expected we found that the bias of the estimated<br />
parameters was smaller in the n = 500 condition than in the n = 150 condition.<br />
The time for convergence varied a lot between these different conditions, 1.5<br />
hours and 30 minutes respectively. Our results indicate that using data with a<br />
larger number of participants gives better estimates of the parameters, although<br />
the time until convergence increases. The results indicate an underestimate of<br />
the true parameters in all conditions. We will present a comparison of these<br />
results with the performance of other software packages.<br />
Keywords: bias, multilevel IRT, simulation, longitudinal, ordinal, quality of life.
Author and presenter<br />
Mittelhaëuser, Marie-Anne; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral<br />
Sciences/CITO<br />
Title<br />
Using mixed IRT models and person-fit methods to model motivation: an<br />
application in educational measurement<br />
Abstract<br />
The goal of the current study was to compare a linking procedure for two<br />
test forms using different types of common items. It was hypothesized that the<br />
test-taking condition of the common items influences the linking procedure. The<br />
results support the hypothesis. A mixed Rasch model was used to model some<br />
examinees as being more motivated than others to solve the items. Removal of<br />
aberrant item-score vectors or items displaying differential item functioning did<br />
not improve the linking procedure.
Author and presenter<br />
Straat, Hendrik J.H.; <strong>Tilburg</strong> School of Social and Behavioral Sciences<br />
Title<br />
Conditional Association as a Powerful Tool for Assessing IRT Model Fit<br />
Abstract<br />
The ordinal, unidimensional latent variable model assumes<br />
unidimensionality, local independence, and monotonicity, and implies the<br />
general property of conditional association between sets of items. We specialized<br />
conditional association into three useful observable consequences and<br />
implemented them in a new scaling procedure that we coined CA scaling. CA<br />
scaling aims at identifying items that are inconsistent with the unidimensional<br />
latent variable model, removing those items from the initial item set, and<br />
producing a subset of items that is consistent with the unidimensional latent<br />
variable model. We compared CA scaling with the scaling procedures DETECT<br />
and Mokken scale analysis, and found that CA scaling produced longer scales<br />
consistent with the unidimensional latent variable model.