casey langer tesfaye and susan white

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AAPOR 69 th Annual Conference Anaheim, CA May 17, 2014 Casey Langer Tesfaye and Susan White Can a survey of U.S. High Schools be Replaced or Reduced through Web Searches? The Successes and Complications of an Experimental Strategy

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Can a survey of U.S. High Schools be Replaced or Reduced through Web Searches? The Successes and Complications of an Experimental Strategy. Casey Langer Tesfaye and Susan White. Nationwide Survey of High School Physics Multiphase survey Sample: public & private HS via NCES - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

Casey Langer Tesfaye and Susan White

Can a survey of U.S. High Schools be Replaced or Reduced through Web Searches? The Successes and Complications of an

Experimental Strategy

Page 2: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

2

Background

•Nationwide Survey of High School Physics

•Multiphase survey Sample: public & private HS via NCES

Refreshed quadrennially, Redrawn periodically Phase 1: schools, Phase 2: teachers

Page 3: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Phase 1: Schools

•Does your school offer Physics?•Names & e-mail addresses of physics teachers

Page 4: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Background

•Multimode survey Mode: paper, web, phone

Page 5: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Problem 1

•Paper survey is really expensive

Page 6: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Page 7: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Problem 2

•Schools are oversurveyed•One IRB is not enough

More and more schools have custom research applications or processes

Page 8: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Problem 3

•Address lists out of date Some schools close or move

•Some schools difficult to reach by phone

Page 9: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Goal

•Eliminate paper survey altogether•Reduce contact with schools•Filter out closed schools faster

Page 10: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Proposed solution

•Begin with web searches•Call remaining schools

Page 11: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Page 12: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Strategy

•3 minute limit•Zoned form

Page 13: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Page 14: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Evaluating the effort

• Responses Response rate Data quality Research process requests

• $ savings

Page 15: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Outcome

•Overall response rate lower, but still over 90%

Page 16: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Outcome

Mode # of Responses % of total Responses

Web search 1061 29%

E-mail 894 25%

Phone call 1663 46%

Total 3618 100%

Page 17: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Data Quality

•Difficult to measure•Many issues to consider

Page 18: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Training and Streamlining

•Googling is a skill Google evolves

•Search strategies and techniques vary Evolve over time

There is a tradeoff between encouraging creative search strategies and evaluating the quality of the information yielded

Page 19: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Data Sources varied

•Sources varied Search results & search pages (e.g. Physics

Olympic teams, activities rosters) School websites, class websites, department

pages, grade-level pages, parental resources Great schools websites LinkedIn and other social networking sites

Page 20: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Quality Control

•Many schools share the same name Double check school location

•Many cities share the same name Use full/er address to verify

•Many teachers share the same name Listings with last names only are common

Page 21: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Information varied

• Very different configurations of information for each school Some easier to navigate, some had more or

less information or differently targeted information (e.g. sports teams)

Different definitions (e.g. Upper School)

Page 22: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Information varied

•Search results vary Date of updates varies Site content varies Websites go up & down, sometimes cached,

sometimes redesigned

Page 23: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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What makes a complete entry?

•Goal of form was staged Stage 1:1. Is physics information available?2. Is physics teacher information available?

Page 24: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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What makes a complete entry?•Goal of form was staged

Stage 1:1. Is physics information available?2. Is physics teacher information available? Stage 2:3. Then is there any helpful contact information?- What constitutes helpful contact information?

New classification: helpful, but not complete

Page 25: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Data Quality

•Every mode of survey has data quality issues Web searches yielded more inaccurate

information that in the past Inaccurate information leaks into teacher

survey E.g. “I don’t teach physics” “I teach physics, but

I have no students this year” More of a need for a streamlined system for

corrections

Page 26: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Cost

•Web search, email & phone call cheaper than Paper survey, email & phone call

•Web search & phone calls roughly equal (but web had the added benefit of filtering out closed schools faster and reducing contact with schools)

Page 27: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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In Sum…•Web searches save $ •Web searches lead to less research process requests and potential rejections

But…•Web searches cannot be the only mode•A system that uses web searches:

Must have streamlined procedures for updating incorrect information

Page 28: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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The web continually evolves

•More information online every day•Google continually improving and streamlining search results

Page 29: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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The web continually evolves

Page 30: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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The web continually evolves

• Training cannot be static Develop search and quality standards that can

evolve over time Develop a system that encourages web search

staff to discuss their strategies Use these interactions to understand what

information you are collecting and where you are collecting it from

Page 31: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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In the future

•We will continue the web searches But we will strengthen and streamline the

feedback loop

Page 32: Casey Langer  Tesfaye  and Susan White

AAPOR 69th Annual ConferenceAnaheim, CA May 17, 2014

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Thanks!

•Questions, comments?Casey Langer [email protected]