The dilemma of survey nonresponse(8)

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Table7

Resultsbyresearchgoal

No.surveys(%oftotal)30(39.5)37(48.7)9(11.8)

Averageresponserate,%(SD)59.1(22.2)65.1(16.6)66.3(19.6)

No.surveyswithresponserate>75%(%withingroup)8(26.7)9(24.3)4(44.4)

Researchgoal

UnivariatedescriptionMultivariatedescription

Modeltestingordevelopment

significantdifferencesbetweenthegroups.Thelargemajorityofsurveysexamined,therefore,donotaddresstheissueofnonresponsebeyondreportingresponserate.4.2.Discussion

Theresultsofthisoverview,althoughnotgeneralizabletoallsurveyspublishedintheLISliterature,suggestthatLISresearchersarenotimmunetotheproblemofnonresponse.Theaverageresponserateforthesurveysidentifiedinthethreejournalsstudiedwas63%,avaluethatiscomparabletotheaverageresponserateof61%observedforsurveysofphysiciansovertheyears1986to1995(Cummingsetal.,2001).Althoughtheaveragerateofresponseisrelativelyhigh,almostthreequartersofthesurveysexaminedhadresponserateslessthan75%,alevelthatistraditionallyheldtoberequiredforgeneralizationfromsampletopopulation.Furthermore,mostsurveysinLISareconductedtodescribeapopulation,ratherthantotestordevelopamodel,whichissignificantbecausethesetypesofresultswillbemostaffectedbynonresponse.

Thehighestaverageresponserateswereobservedforsurveysoflibraryrepresentatives,followedbythoseoflibrarians,andfinally,surveysofusergroups(e.g.,faculty).Thisorderingofresponseratesmaybeexplainedbythehigherresponseratesgenerallyobservedforsurveysthatareofintrinsicinteresttothosecompletingthem(Donald1960;Martin,1994;Senf,1987).BecausethegeneralfocusofresearchpublishedinLISislibrariesandinformationservices,itseemslikelythatlibrariesandlibrarianswouldbemoreinterestedinthetopicsthanwouldbemembersofusergroups.

ItappearsthatLISresearcherscoulddoabetterjobofminimizingnonresponseandimplementingstrategiestoimprovetheinterpretationofsurveyresultsinthecontextofnonresponse.Thereislittleutilizationofmethodologicalvariationsthathavebeendemon-stratedtoimproveresponserates.Almostallsurveysreportedinthesethreejournalsovertheyears1996through2001usedtraditionalmailore-mailasthemethodofsurveydelivery.Fewstudiesusedprenotification,reminders,self-addressed,stampedenvelopeforsurveyreturns,orincentivestoencouragehighresponserates.Furthermore,thosestudiesthatprovidedincentivesimplementedtheminarelativelyineffectivemanner:theygenerallyofferednonmonetaryincentivesforcompletedsurveysratherthanincludingasmallmonetaryincentivewiththeinitialsurveydelivery.Onlyasmallproportionofstudiesacknowledgedthepossibilityofsamplingbiascausedbynonresponseandattemptedtoassessorcorrectforthatbias.

J.Burkell/Library&InformationScienceResearch25(2003)239–263255

5.Conclusion

Nonresponsepresentsavirtuallyunresolvabledilemma:toknowwhethernonresponsehasbiasedsurveyresults,researchersmustknow(orguessat)thedatathatnonrespondentswouldhaveprovided.Thestrategiesprovidedinthisarticledonoteliminatethedilemma.Theymerelyrepresentabestpossibleresponsetoanimpossibleproblem.Thatbeingsaid,itisevidentthatsurveynonresponseisanissueinLIS,asitisinotherdisciplines,andLISresearchersneedstrategiesforminimizingtheproblemofnonresponseandtheimpactofnonresponseonsurveyconclusions.Toachievethesegoals,thefollowingstrategiesaresuggested:

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First,researchersshouldconcentrateonreducingnonresponsebyusingmethodologicalvariationsdemonstratedtoincreaseresponserates.

Ifnonresponseremainshigh(>25%)despitetheseefforts,caremustbetakentolimitsurveyconclusionsappropriately,giventhepossibilityofsamplingbiascausedbynonresponse.

Wheneverpossible,researchersshouldattempttoassessthedegreeofbiasintroducedbynonresponse.Thebestwaytoaccomplishthismaybebyusingadditionaleffortandresourcestocollectdatafromarandomsampleoftheinitialnonrespondentsandcomparingdatafrominitialrespondentstotheresultsgatheredfromthisgroup.

Finally,insomecases(whengeneralizabilityisofparticularimportanceandtherequireddataareavailable),researcherscanconsiderstatisticalprocedures,includingsamplereweighting,thatmayhelptoreducetheimpactofnonresponseonresults.

Thesestrategiesprovideaprincipledplanforfillingintheblindspotthatarisesfromsurveynonresponse.

Appendix.Articleswithsurveysmeetinginclusioncriteria

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2.Chelton,M.K.(1997).Threeinfivepubliclibraryusersareyouth:ImplicationsofsurveyresultsfromtheNationalCenterforEducationStatistics.PublicLibraries,36,104–108.

3.Johnson,C.P.(1998).LibraryemployeeswithouttheALA-accreditedMaster’sdegree.PublicLibraries,37,40–46.

4.Baker,L.M.,Spang,L.,&Gogolowski,C.(1998).TheprovisionofconsumerhealthinformationbyMichiganPublicLibrarians.PublicLibraries,37,250–255.

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256J.Burkell/Library&InformationScienceResearch25(2003)239–263

6.Gregory,G.(1999).TheLibraryServicesandTechnologyAct:HowchangesfromLSCAareaffectinglibraries.PublicLibraries,38,378–382.

7.Liu,Y.Q.,&Zweizig,D.(2000).Publiclibraryuseofstatistics:Asurveyreport.PublicLibraries,39,98–105.

8.Crawford,G.A.(2000).Internetissues:Access,filtering,andasurveyofPennsylvaniapubliclibraries.PublicLibraries,39,162–167.

9.Gilton,D.G.(2000).Onwardandupward:Promotionofpubliclibrarians.PublicLibraries,39,214–219.

10.ThePublicLibrariesCommitteeoftheNewEnglandMusicLibraryAssociation.(2000).MusiccollectionandacquisitionpracticesinConnecticutpubliclibraries.PublicLibraries,39,348–355.

11.Staples,S.(2001).Fastandslowlanesoftheinformationhighway:Librariandecisionmakingaboutelectronicinformationservices.PublicLibraries,40,294–297.

12.Karp,R.,&Keck,A.(1996).Theologicallibrarianship:Towardaprofileofaprofession.College&ResearchLibraries,57,35–42.

13.Farr,K.W.,&Scott,R.N.( …… 此处隐藏：2164字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……