An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Administrative records have begun to play a key role in survey research and, while policies regarding consent are still in flux, there is general agreement that research is needed on how to communicate to respondents what linking entails, and how to motivate their consent. Previous research found that 26 percent of those initially opposed to data sharing shifted their position when prompted with arguments about potential improvements in accuracy and reductions in cost (Singer and Presser, 1996). In order to take these findings further, in the spring of 2010 a field experiment was carried out by the US Census Bureau which included three panels, each presenting a different rationale to the respondent for data linkage: improved accuracy, reduced costs, and reduced respondent burden. Somewhat contrary to expectations, there was no statistically significant difference in consent rates across the three versions of the consent question. Overall levels of consent, however, were rather high (84 percent), and represented a shift of more than 20 percentage points compared to a similar study in 2004. Demographic analysis indicated that age and non-response to a household income question were predictors of both levels of consent and missing data on key variables needed to make that linkage. Education and sex were also predictors of objection rates. There was also some evidence of interviewer effects; one of the three interviewer groups had a higher rate of respondent objections to consent and a higher rate of missing data on key fields of data used for record linkage.
Share
Related Information
Some content on this site is available in several different electronic formats. Some of the files may require a plug-in or additional software to view.
Top