Correcting for Survey Misreports Using Auxiliary Information with an Application to Estimating Turnout
Working Paper No.: 74Date Published: 2009-05-01
Author(s):
Jonathan N. Katz, California Institute of Technology
Gabriel Katz, California Institute of Technology
Abstract:
Misreporting is a problem that plagues researchers that use survey data.
In this paper, we give conditions under which misreporting will lead to incorrect
inferences. We then develop a model that corrects for misreporting using
some auxiliary information, usually from an earlier or pilot validation study.
This correction is implemented via Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)
methods, which allows us to correct for other problems in surveys, such as
non-response. This correction will allow researchers to continue to use the
non-validated data to make inferences. The model, while fully general, is
developed in the context of estimating models of turnout from the American
National Elections Studies (ANES) data.