Download full text
(external source)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://doi.org/10.12758/mda.2018.08
Exports for your reference manager
Validating Earnings in the German National Educational Panel Study: Determinants of Measurement Accuracy of Survey Questions on Earnings
[journal article]
Abstract Questions on earnings are counted among sensitive topics that often produce high rates of item nonresponse or measurement error. Both types of bias are well documented in the literature and are found to concentrate in the tails of the earnings distribution. In this paper, we explore whether measurem... view more
Questions on earnings are counted among sensitive topics that often produce high rates of item nonresponse or measurement error. Both types of bias are well documented in the literature and are found to concentrate in the tails of the earnings distribution. In this paper, we explore whether measurement error on earnings could be explained by socially desirable
reporting and whether the error is impacted by interviewer characteristics. Using the linked dataset NEPS-SC6-ADIAB, which contains survey data from the German National Educational Panel Study, Starting Cohort "Adults", linked to administrative earnings records from the German Federal Employment Agency, we analyze the extents of over- and underreporting and the influence of respondent and interviewer characteristics on these behaviors for different quartiles of the earnings distribution. Our results show that the average level of misreporting is relatively low (approximately 6% of median earnings). Our main logistic model reveals that female and more highly educated respondents report significantly more accurately while those with higher earnings misreport to a significantly greater extent. Regarding the impact of personality traits on reporting accuracy, we find significant positive effects for more agreeable respondents and significant negative effects for extraverted respondents. When differentiating by the direction of misreporting, we find, for instance, that women are less likely to overreport across all earnings quartiles. However, the influence of interviewer characteristics is negligible.... view less
Keywords
survey research; data capture; data quality; response behavior; social desirability; reactivity effect; personality traits; income; salary
Classification
Methods and Techniques of Data Collection and Data Analysis, Statistical Methods, Computer Methods
Free Keywords
measurement error; earnings; interviewer effects; NEPS-SC6-ADIAB
Document language
English
Publication Year
2019
Page/Pages
p. 59-90
Journal
Methods, data, analyses : a journal for quantitative methods and survey methodology (mda), 13 (2019) 1
ISSN
2190-4936
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed