Using propensity scores to control coverage bias in telephone surveys - ARCHIVED

Telephone surveys are a convenient and efficient method of data collection. Bias may be introduced into population estimates, however, by the exclusion of nontelephone households from these surveys. Data from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indicates that five and a half to six percent of American households are without phone service at any given time. The bias introduced can be significant since nontelephone households may differ from telephone households in ways that are not adequately handled by poststratification. Many households, called "transients", move in and out of the telephone population during the year, sometimes due to economic reasons or relocation. The transient telephone population may be representative of the nontelephone population in general since its members have recently been in the nontelephone population.