Response rates in surveys have been declining, and there is growing concern that non-response bias is increasing and undermining the quality of survey-research data. The multi-level, integrated database approach (MIDA) seeks to address and redress this problem. MIDA greatly enriches existing sample frames by a) extracting all possible information from the sample frame for use in data collection and analysis, b) augmenting the sample frame by linking in both case-level and aggregate-level data from a wide range of public databases, and c) further enhancing the data collection by recording for both respondents and non-respondents a large degree of paradata generated during the data-collection process itself. The data in the augmented sample frame can be used to a) assist in data collection by providing interviewers with more information about the target sample, b) assess non-response bias by comparing respondents and non-respondents on the extensive case-level and aggregate-level information known for all cases in the augmented sample frames, and c) contextualize analysis by using the same contextual data for analysis on the completed cases. This initial test of MIDA will draw a sample of 400 addresses from the National Opinion Research Center national sample frame and augment those cases with case-level and aggregate-level data from a wide range of public data sources. It will then assess the completeness and accuracy of the added information such as by crosschecking data across information sources.
Survey research is the most widely used tool for studying human populations, but the decline in response rates has raised the concern that the quality of data from surveys has been falling due to increased non-response bias. MIDA has the potential to a) improve response rates by providing interviewers with more useful information during data collection, b) better asses the level of non-response bias that exists in surveys and then develop appropriate weights to adjust for whatever bias is detected, and c) improve data analysis by making contextual, geographical data automatically available as part of every survey data file. MIDA should thus lead to a general improvement in scientific research from surveys.
