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I don't believe they're going door to door and knocking on random doors. It's not said explicitly but it's implied that they're sending postal mail and followin

I don't believe they're going door to door and knocking on random doors. It's not said explicitly but it's implied that they're sending postal mail and following up with people who respond for in-home interviews. The methodology is outlined here: https://oxis.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/methodology/ https://oxis.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/methodology/

vharuck 7y ago
Mail wasn't involved except for picking random addresses from the list of known postal addresses. The interviewers went door-to-door. They also chose a household resident over 14 at random, not just the door answerer. And a 50% successful response rate is pretty good for a random survey. Really, though, I wish people who question survey methodology would mention specific problems with the methodology. One problem I see is that part of the weighting is based on "ACORN" categories, which aren't well-defined and remind me of junk sold by marketing companies. Of course, I assume the data's based on actual demographics, so it might be good for weighting even if it's bad at explaining.
- cookie_monsta 7y ago
  Where does it say that they chose a household resident over 14 at random, not just the door answerer and what would that process even look like?
  - vharuck 7y ago
    In the methodology PDF linked by another commenter up this chain[0]: >At each address respondents for interview were selected by asking the person who answered the door if it would be possible to interview the person normally resident at that household ages 14 or over with the next birthday. If birthdays weren't known by the door-answerer, then the interviewer picked a subject by first letter of the first name. But that only happened in 5% of cases. [0] https://oxis.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/methodology/ https://oxis.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/methodology/
    - cookie_monsta 7y ago
      Ah, yes. Thank you - I didn't see the pdf.
cookie_monsta 7y ago
> it's implied that they're sending postal mail and following up with people who respond for in-home interviews. I've read that section a few times now and I can't see even a hint of that implication. Is it because addresses are chosen randomly from the Postal Address File?
randogogogo 7y ago
"They're sending postal mail and following up with people who respond" If so then even worse. They'd only be working with people that take snail mail seriously.
- nurettin 7y ago
  Every important document ever in my life arrived via "snail mail" so I can't really imagine anyone not taking it seriously. Except maybe some odd internet whiz-kid with a propeller hat.
  - randogogogo 7y ago
    That's the rub I think. Would this be an "important document" in everyone's opinion? For me it wouldn't, it'd go straight in the bin.
- Arnt 7y ago
  Please elaborate. How big is that subset of people compared with other candidate subsets?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- reaperducer 7y ago
  They'd only be working with people that take snail mail seriously. If you have tax problems, the I.R.S. will not e-mail you. It will not call you. It will not text you. It will not contact you on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Slack, WhatsApp, or any other digital method. It will contact you via snail mail. Serious people take snail mail seriously.
  - cookie_monsta 7y ago
    Of course, but a letter saying "we're going to take your bling away" is likely to elicit a different response to "we want to ask you some questions about your internet usage"
CivBase 7y ago
I suspect that sampling method isn't especially better at representing the entirety of "Britons" compared to the door-to-door method described by OP.

vharuck 7y ago

Mail wasn't involved except for picking random addresses from the list of known postal addresses. The interviewers went door-to-door. They also chose a household resident over 14 at random, not just the door answerer. And a 50% successful response rate is pretty good for a random survey. Really, though, I wish people who question survey methodology would mention specific problems with the methodology. One problem I see is that part of the weighting is based on "ACORN" categories, which aren't well-defined and remind me of junk sold by marketing companies. Of course, I assume the data's based on actual demographics, so it might be good for weighting even if it's bad at explaining.

cookie_monsta 7y ago
Where does it say that they chose a household resident over 14 at random, not just the door answerer and what would that process even look like?
- vharuck 7y ago
  In the methodology PDF linked by another commenter up this chain[0]: >At each address respondents for interview were selected by asking the person who answered the door if it would be possible to interview the person normally resident at that household ages 14 or over with the next birthday. If birthdays weren't known by the door-answerer, then the interviewer picked a subject by first letter of the first name. But that only happened in 5% of cases. [0] https://oxis.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/methodology/ https://oxis.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/methodology/
  - cookie_monsta 7y ago
    Ah, yes. Thank you - I didn't see the pdf.

cookie_monsta 7y ago

> it's implied that they're sending postal mail and following up with people who respond for in-home interviews. I've read that section a few times now and I can't see even a hint of that implication. Is it because addresses are chosen randomly from the Postal Address File?

randogogogo 7y ago

"They're sending postal mail and following up with people who respond" If so then even worse. They'd only be working with people that take snail mail seriously.

nurettin 7y ago
Every important document ever in my life arrived via "snail mail" so I can't really imagine anyone not taking it seriously. Except maybe some odd internet whiz-kid with a propeller hat.
- randogogogo 7y ago
  That's the rub I think. Would this be an "important document" in everyone's opinion? For me it wouldn't, it'd go straight in the bin.
Arnt 7y ago
Please elaborate. How big is that subset of people compared with other candidate subsets?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
reaperducer 7y ago
They'd only be working with people that take snail mail seriously. If you have tax problems, the I.R.S. will not e-mail you. It will not call you. It will not text you. It will not contact you on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Slack, WhatsApp, or any other digital method. It will contact you via snail mail. Serious people take snail mail seriously.
- cookie_monsta 7y ago
  Of course, but a letter saying "we're going to take your bling away" is likely to elicit a different response to "we want to ask you some questions about your internet usage"

CivBase 7y ago

I suspect that sampling method isn't especially better at representing the entirety of "Britons" compared to the door-to-door method described by OP.