Sociology, Department of

 

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2016

Citation

Journal of Official Statistics, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2016, pp. 1015–1017,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/JOS-2016-0054

Comments

Copyright 2016 Statistics Sweden. Published in DeGruyter Open.

Abstract

Improving Survey Methods: Lessons from Recent Research is a compilation of research by survey methodological leaders across Europe. The book is organized into eight sections – modes, interviewers, sensitive questions, web surveys, access panels, nonsurvey data collection, nonresponse, and missing data. Each section starts with a brief overview chapter followed by three or four (generally) empirical chapters. The chapters themselves vary in approach, with some being simple literature reviews, others reporting the results of a simple 2 £ 2 experiment, and still others conducting extensive observational analyses. This volume is a clear indication that survey methodological research is strong in Europe.

As with all edited volumes, different chapters in this book have different audiences. Some are new empirical findings, while others are overviews of existing literature. The preface (pp. xi-xii) describes the volume as arising from a series of conferences. It is a valuable resource for researchers who were not able to attend these meetings, and for understanding some of the innovations occurring in methods in Germany and beyond.

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