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Web Survey Bibliography

Title Controlling Nonresponse in the Current Employment Statistics Survey
Year 1999
Access date 22.07.2004
Full text doc (224k)
Abstract Timely collection of data is a top priority in all surveys. As a result, most surveys have procedures in place to control/minimize nonresponse. The Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey is no different from other survey agencies in this respect. CES is a monthly panel survey of about 370,000 business establishments conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). CES provides one of the earliest estimates of employment, hours, and earnings at the national, State, and metropolitan area levels. CES data, widely viewed as a major economic indicator, are published each month after only two and a half weeks of collection. This restricted collection period places a huge burden on the collection method and magnifies importance of the procedures used to maximize response.CES spends significant time and resources re-contacting non-respondents in an attempt to encourage them to report. These efforts involve setting a fixed 'cutoff' date for the receipt of data, and following-up with those sample units that do not respond by the predetermined date. CES has developed a model for determining when to re-contact a non-respondent, and uses a mixed mode of contact for nonresponse prompting. This paper describes what activities are performed in the CES program to maximize response while minimizing workload, costs, and respondent burden in an automated self-response collection environment. We will discuss the mode, timing, and content of the various re-contact methods. We will measure the effectiveness of our re-contact efforts, including a comparison by mode between prompting non-respondents by phone, FAX, and e-mail. Each mode has its own advantages and disadvantages, which we will discuss as well.
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Year of publication1999
Bibliographic typeConferences, workshops, tutorials, presentations
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Web survey bibliography - 1999 (45)