Reaching Migrants in Survey Research: The Use of the Global Positioning System to Reduce Coverage Bias in China

List-based samples are often biased because of coverage errors. The problem is especially acute in societies where the level of internal migration is high and where record keeping on the population is not reliable. We propose a solution based on spatial sampling that overcomes the inability to reach...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political analysis 2005, Vol.13 (1), p.1-22
Main Authors: Landry, Pierre F., Shen, Mingming
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bias
Census data
Censuses
Comparative analysis
Demography
Global positioning systems
Households
Internal Migration
Migrants
Migration
Peoples Republic of China
Political reform
Political Science Research
Population estimates
Proportions
Public Opinion
Public opinion surveys
Sampling
Statistical Bias
Survey research
Survey sampling
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Summary:List-based samples are often biased because of coverage errors. The problem is especially acute in societies where the level of internal migration is high and where record keeping on the population is not reliable. We propose a solution based on spatial sampling that overcomes the inability to reach migrants in traditional area samples based on household lists. A comparison between a traditional study and our sample of Beijing demonstrates that coverage bias is greatly reduced. The successful incorporation of mobile urban residents has important substantive effects, in both univariate and multivariate analyses of public opinion data.
ISSN:1047-1987
1476-4989
DOI:10.1093/pan/mpi001