Self-reported cheating in web surveys on political knowledge

Measuring citizens’ political knowledge is important for understanding public opinion formation. In view of the increasing popularity of Web surveys, this paper examines the limitations of this interviewing facility when measuring factual political knowledge. We show that Web surveys contain a source of measurement error as respondents can “Google” the correct answers. This cheating activity is our principal concern. Past efforts are extended by: (1) offering a self-reported estimate of the share of Googling cheaters, (2) showing that the positive effect of education on factual political knowledge is most probably underestimated when cheating occurs, and (3) showing that self-reported cheating activity is inversely related to actual response time. In the concluding section, we discuss the implications of these results and the extent to which cheating can be reduced. The empirical analyses are based on a Danish Web sample from 2012 (N \(=\) 1,509).     

An optional scrambled randomized response technique for practical surveys

Eichhorn and Hayre (J Stat Plan Inference 7:307–316, 1983) introduced the scrambled response technique to gather information on sensitive quantitative variables. Singh and Joarder (Metron 15:151–157, 1997), Gupta et al. (J Stat Plan Inference 100:239–247, 2002) and Bar-Lev et al. (Metrika 60:255–260, 2004) permitted the respondents either to report their true values on the sensitive quantitative variable or the scrambled response and developed the optional randomized response (ORR) technique based on simple random sample with replacement (SRSWR). While developing the ORR procedure, these authors made the assumption that the probability of disclosing the true response or the randomized response (RR) is the same for all the individuals in a population. This is not a very realistic assumption as in practical survey situations the probability of reporting the true value or the RR generally varies from unit to unit. Moreover, if one generalizes the ORR method as developed by these authors relaxing the ‘constant probability’ assumption, the variance of an unbiased estimator for the population total or mean can not be estimated as this involves the unknown parameter, ‘the probability of revealing the true response’. Here we propose a modified ORR procedure for stratified unequal probability sampling after relaxing the assumption of ‘constant probability’ of providing the true response. It is also demonstrated with a numerical exercise that our procedure produces better estimator for a population total than that provided by the method suggested by the earlier authors.     

On possibilities and limitations of using self-anchoring scales in web surveys

Self-anchoring scales were first mentioned by Kilpatrick and Cantril (J Indiv Psychol 16:158–170, 1960) and Cantril (The pattern of human concerns, 1965) as rating instruments in which the end anchors are defined by the respondent himself, basing on his own assumptions, perceptions, goals and values. The uses of these scales are legion and they have shown to be very useful in reducing measurement bias in cross-cultural research (Cantril, The pattern of human concerns, 1965; Bernheim et al. J. Happiness Stud. 7:227–250, 2006). The first part of the current study investigates whether context effects can be lessened or eliminated by using self-anchoring scales. For this purpose, an experiment similar to the ones by Couper et al. (Public Opin Q 71:623–634, 2004, Public Opin Q 68:255–266, 2007), in which they manipulated images that figured in a web survey, was conducted. The hypothesis that self-anchoring scales can reduce contextual bias, is not supported by our data. The second part of the study investigates if and how self-anchoring scales affect drop-out during the filling-out of questionnaires. It is found that, compared to a regular rating scale, a larger proportion of respondents drop-out. Moreover, subjective preferences for the one or the other scale do not seem to differ.     

Features of the Z-scoring method in graphical two-dimensional web surveys: the case of ZEF

Research in the human and behavioral sciences has long been burdened by a methodological distinction between two categories of research: that which measures and produces facts and that which understands and interprets phenomena. However all interpretation of numbers requires that results be viewed in relative terms and there are no other means for this than comparison. The Z-scoring method, that is to say standardization, in web survey ZEF, emphasizes relative traits of survey answering. Questions in ZEF are illustrated in graphical two-dimensional chart where respondents are able to compare their answers at the moment of answering process. This trait of answering emphasizes the relationship of questions more than an absolute values on the scales of two dimensions. The Z-scoring method that is used in ZEF for handle results is based for same assumption: The respondents are compared questions and are formulated their answers through comparison. The significance of differences between groups cannot be measured directly: in some content areas, even small differences may be important, while in others changes of even several per cent are not significant. Standardization makes visible how different respondents and groups value things, that is, construct an order for them, using the dimensions given.     

Towards a typology of information to aid reliability of response in social surveys

Covariance structure modelling in the form of a multi-method multitrait model is employed to analyse the reliability of responses to a mail questionnaire sent to young people. A typology of the type of information sought is derived and the model used to test hypotheses about the nature of the reliability of different types of information obtained in the survey.     

基于模块化思想的中国软件业发展战略及路径分析

文章按照模块化思想,对中国软件业的发展路径进行探讨,提出以软件外包为开端,逐步建立软件业模块化结构,并最终形成中国软件产业模块化体系的基本构想。     

基于系统动力学的市场战略分析

文章通过研究市场竞争和企业创新这两个主要因素对市场占有量的影响,从而得到企业发展战略部署的一般规律,并运用系统动力学模型从市场导向的战略视角来研究企业持续发展的根本动因。     

基于模块化思想的中国软件业发展战略及路径分析

文章按照模块化思想,对中国软件业的发展路径进行探讨,提出以软件外包为开端,逐步建立软件业模块化结构,并最终形成中国软件产业模块化体系的基本构想。     

基于行为金融学原理的投资策略考察

行为金融学是对传统金融学理论的革命和对传统投资决策范式的修正。据此,应当把心理学和金融学问题结合起来,实现对投资行为的预测和改造,避免投资者对信息的过度反应或者反应不足的情况,从而找出适当的投资策略。     

Measuring and testing Granger causality over the spectrum: An application to European production expectation surveys

Decomposing Granger causality over the spectrum allows us to disentangle potentially different Granger causality relationships over different frequencies. This may yield new and complementary insights compared to traditional versions of Granger causality. In this paper, we compare two existing approaches in the frequency domain, proposed originally by Pierce [Pierce, D. A. (1979). R-squared measures for time series. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 74, 901–910] and Geweke [Geweke, J. (1982). Measurement of linear dependence and feedback between multiple time series. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 77, 304–324], and introduce a new testing procedure for the Pierce spectral Granger causality measure. To provide insights into the relative performance of this test, we study its power properties by means of Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, we apply the methodology in the context of the predictive value of the European production expectation surveys. This predictive content is found to vary widely with the frequency considered, illustrating the usefulness of not restricting oneself to a single overall test statistic.     

供应商快速反应能力构面实证分析

在综合国内外学者关于供应商快速反应能力因素研究的基础上,文章结合我国文化背景和供应—零售渠道特点,重新设计了供应商快速反应能力量表,并以北京、上海、长沙、济南、昆明等5个城市的电脑零售商为样本进行了实证分析。     

企业并购中的马太效应分析

在竞争日益激烈的经济环境中,并购已成为企业发展战略的重要选择熏文章旨在通过分析企业并购中的马太效应,探究并购成败之因,以期给企业的并购实践提供一些有意义的启示。     

Improving the response rate and quality in Web-based surveys through the personalization and frequency of reminder mailings

Internet shares some characteristics of survey making with traditional media, especially postal mail. However, there are considerable differences that justify a different focus on administration and make existing knowledge of the traditional media not directly applicable to Internet. Research is therefore necessary to discover how Web-based surveys operate under different conditioning factors, so that general behavioral patterns can be established in order to improve the administration and results of such surveys. This study thus centers on two of the parameters that can influence responses to Web-based surveys, which are personalization and the frequency of reminder mailings distributed among the sample population. The results obtained show a positive influence of personalized e-mail messages on response rate and the need to use a lower frequency for studies aiming at increasing the response rate in the shortest possible time; and longer frequency (and personalized) when the aim is to have the respondents complete the full questionnaire.     

Face-to-face versus telephone surveys on political attitudes: a comparative analysis

Several researchers declared that the telephone survey reaches more accurate voting tendencies than the face-to-face surveys. Telephone survey shows numerous advantages compared to a face-to-face one but, however, the telephone survey also has some inconveniences. Among these it is important to highlight the scant quality of the sampling frame; absence of a telephone in some homes and the wide expansion of the mobile phone; low response rate of certain collectives and the overrepresentation of others. There are also some new barrierswhich make access more difficult (e.g. the automatic answering phone) and the saturation of the telephone medium because of the large amount of publicity activities which generate a large number of “unsuccessful” calls and interruptedinterviews. The objective of this paper is evaluating the adaptation of the telephone surveys in the electoral forecasts; in an attempt to see if it shows substantial improvements when they are compared to face-to-face interviews.     

基于动态Web页面湖南晚稻品种选择平台的研究

为实现基于动态Web页面湖南晚稻品种选择平台,通过ASP.NET技术实现动态Web页面,应用框架编程思想结合C#编程语言和现代数据库技术实现数据交互式处理,利用MD5算法确保数据的安全性,Windows系列操作系统是该平台实现的重要基础及组成部分。     

An approach to the display and analysis of multiobjective problems

In all operations research applications, the problem of implementation rests on the information conveyed to the decision maker. The presentation of results is a critical link in the success of a project. An ineffective transfer of information will reduce the chance of decision maker acceptance. This final step in the analysis is particularly difficult in multiobjective analyses, where the amount of relevent information increases with each performance measure.This paper will describe an alternative to the typical graphical approach to multiobjective display, which is adaptable to any number of objectives. A real world example is given and some theoretical insights are developed.     

流动性的股票特征——基于中国证券市场的经验数据分析

在对流动性内涵认识的基础上,本文提出股票流动性的本质是股票与现金之间相互转化的能力,满足的是投资者正常的交易需求。从流动性的公司规模和成交金额特征、流动性与股价的关系和流动性水平的稳定性三个方面理论探讨和实证检验了流动性的股票特征,研究结果表明：（1）公司规模一定,可实现的成交金额越多,流动性越好;成交金额一定,公司规模越大,流动性越好;（2）股票的价格与股票流动性之间具有显著的正相关关系;（3）流动性水平在一定时期内具有稳定性。