The Gini index is probably the most commonly used indicator to measure inequality. For continuous distributions, the Gini index can be computed using several equivalent formulations. However, this is not the case with discrete distributions, where controversy remains regarding the expression to be used to estimate the Gini index. We attempt to…

Multistate models are often used in social research to analyze how individuals move between states. A typical application is the estimation of the lifetime spent in a certain state, like the lifetime spent in employment, or the lifetime spent in good health. Unfortunately, the estimation of such quantities is prone to several biases. In this…

Indirect questioning techniques such as the randomized response technique aim to control social desirability bias in surveys of sensitive topics. To improve upon previous indirect questioning techniques, we propose the new Cheating Detection Triangular Model. Similar to the Cheating Detection Model, it includes a mechanism for detecting…

Survey interviewers can negatively affect survey data by introducing variance and bias into estimates. When investigating these interviewer effects, research typically focuses on interviewer sociodemographics with only a few studies examining the effects of characteristics that are not directly visible such as interviewer attitudes, opinions, and…

Spatial microsimulation encompasses a range of alternative methodological approaches for the small area estimation (SAE) of target population parameters from sample survey data down to target small areas in contexts where such data are desired but not otherwise available. Although widely used, an enduring limitation of spatial microsimulation SAE…

Address-based sampling (ABS) refers to the use a list of addresses derived from the U.S. Postal Service's Computerized Delivery Sequence File as a sampling frame. While most residential addresses are included on an ABS frame, it still suffers from undercoverage. Undercoverage is problematic only if the uncovered units have different attributes…

This article examines an important and thorny problem in interview research: How to assess whether what people say motivated their actions actually did so? We ask three questions: What specific challenges are at play? How have researchers addressed them? And how should those strategies be evaluated? We argue that such research faces at least five…

Surveys of income are complicated by the sensitive nature of the topic. The problem researchers face is how to encourage participants to respond and to provide truthful responses in surveys. To correct biases induced by nonresponse or underreporting, we propose a two-stage multilevel randomized response (MRR) technique to investigate the true…

We propose some theoretical and empirical advances by supplying the methodology for analyzing the factors that influence two sensitive variables when data are collected by randomized response (RR) survey modes. First, we provide the framework for obtaining the maximum likelihood estimates of logistic regression coefficients under the RR simple and…

Multiple outcome recurrent event data are typical in social sciences, where several outcomes on an individual are collected. In situations where aggregated counts of events over a long observation period are recorded, rounding is common, leading to counts being heaped at rounded values. We consider situations where multiple outcome recurrent event…

In the United States and elsewhere, risk assessment algorithms are being used to help inform criminal justice decision-makers. A common intent is to forecast an offender's "future dangerousness." Such algorithms have been correctly criticized for potential unfairness, and there is an active cottage industry trying to make repairs. In…

Virtually, all large-scale family surveys in the United States and Europe have yielded a positive view of family ties in contemporary societies. The present study examines whether surveys like these are affected by selective nonresponse. Are people with negative family ties less likely to participate in surveys, and if so, to what extent does this…

The historical turn in social science has prompted scholars to engage with the work of historians on a large scale. Here, social scientists face two standard problems of selection bias: confirmation bias and convenience sampling. So far, the record of dealing with these problems has been poor, and little has been done to specify how social…

Information quality deficiencies have been detected in occupational safety and health surveys in Europe, which typically gather self-reported data responded by employers or their representatives. For instance, their low response rates and informant profiles make estimations on establishments with safety representatives (SRs) unreliable. We tested…

Conventional advice discourages controlling for postoutcome variables in regression analysis. By contrast, we show that controlling for commonly available postoutcome (i.e., future) values of the treatment variable can help detect, reduce, and even remove omitted variable bias (unobserved confounding). The premise is that the same unobserved…