Spring Poll 14 - Exec Summ EMB
Spring Poll 14 - Exec Summ EMB
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Survey of Young Americans Attitudes ! Toward Politics and Public Service:! 25th Edition ! ! Institute of Politics, Harvard University!
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! Harvard Public Opinion Project!
April 29, 2014! ! ! #HarvardYouthPoll!
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The Institute of Politics! Harvard University! 79 JFK Street! Cambridge, MA 02138! (617) 495-1360"
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Introduction !! Demographic and Political Prole! Political Views Related to the President, ! Midterms and 2016 !! Political Issues: Wealth Gap and Marijuana! Partisanship and Political Typology!! Trust in Institutions and Political Process! Use of Social Networking Technology!! Harvard Public Opinion Project...........!! Appendix..............!
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Page 5! Page 9! Page 13! Page 17! Page 20! Page 22! Page 23"
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Introduction!
Conceived by two Harvard undergraduate students during the winter of 1999, Harvard Universitys Institute of Politics Survey of Young Americans Attitudes toward Politics and Public Service began in 2000 as a national survey of 18-to 24- year old college undergraduates. Over the last 13 years, this research project has grown in scope and mission, as this report now includes an analysis of 18- to 29- year olds on a broad set of longitudinal and current events issues.! The rst survey of N=800 college undergraduates was completed in the Spring of 2000 and all interviews were conducted over the telephone; since that time, 24 subsequent surveys have been released. Over this period, a number of modications have been made to the scope and methodology in order to ensure that sampling methods most accurately capture the view of the population of young adults in a manner that will be useful to both the Institute of Politics and the broader research and political communities.! In 2001, the survey was expanded from N=800 to N=1,200 college students in order to capture a more robust sample of the undergraduate population.! In 2006, the survey expanded to N=2,400 interviews, as we began interviewing members of the 18- to 24- year-old cohort who were not currently attending a four-year college or university. In addition, because of changing uses of technology among younger Americans, in 2006 the survey moved from a telephone poll to a survey that was administered online.! In 2009, we expanded our scope a third time to include the population of young adults aged 18 to 29. While we will continue to report on the attitudes and opinions of U.S. college students, this change in our research subject was made to allow for better and more direct comparisons to the broader set of election and general public opinion research tracking data, which tends to track the 18- to 29-year-old demographic group. Our fall political tracking surveys will include samples of N=2,000, while the spring semesters research will be more in-depth and include N=3,000 interviews. All of our interviews are conducted in English and Spanish. Using GfK (formerly Knowledge Networks) as our research partner, IOP surveys use RDD and AddressBased Sampling (ABS) frames and are administered online (see Appendix). !
The interviewing period for this survey of N=3,058 18- to 29- year olds was March 22 to April 4, 2014. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 1.8 percentage points at the 95 percent condence level. During the interviewing period, major media stories included searching for Malaysia Airways ight #MH370, the presidents call to end NSAs bulk data collection, extension of Obamacare deadline for those who needed it, the turmoil in Ukraine, the rst meeting between President Obama and Pope Francis, a GOP forum in Las Vegas with potential presidential candidates, news that Obamacare signups will exceed seven million and SCOTUS striking down aggregate limits on federal campaign contributions.! Harvard IOP Polling Director John Della Volpe supervised the survey group of undergraduates. As always, the IOP survey group would like to thank IOP Director Trey Grayson and Executive Director Catherine McLaughlin for their insight and support over the course of this and all IOP projects." "3
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Demographic prole:!
48 percent male, 52 percent female;! 57 percent are between the ages of 18 and 24; 43 percent are between the ages of 25 and 29;! 59 percent White (non-Hispanic), 19 percent Hispanic, 13 percent African-American (nonHispanic), 7 percent other and 2 percent 2+ races;! 20 percent are Catholic, 14 percent Protestant, 12 percent Fundamental/Evangelical, 2 percent Mormon, 2 percent Jewish, 1 percent Muslim, 10 percent another religion, 25 percent cite no religious preference and 13 percent decline to answer or say not sure;! 44 percent with a religious preference say that religion is a very important part of their life, 35 percent say that it is somewhat important and 17 percent say it is not very important;! 18 percent are married, 11 percent are living with a partner, 1 percent are divorced, 1 percent are separated and 69 percent have never been married.!
Current educational status:! 7 percent of the sample indicated that they are in high school, 2 percent in a trade or vocational school, 11 percent are in a two-year junior or community college, 21 percent in a four-year college, 5 percent in graduate school, 1 percent in a business or professional school, 1 percent are not enrolled but taking at least one class and 54 percent of 18- to 29- year olds surveyed are not enrolled in any of these categories;! 71 percent of college students attend a public institution, 29 percent a private one.!
Political and ideological prole:! 68 percent say they are registered to vote;! 19 percent consider themselves to be politically engaged or active;! 36 percent self-identify as liberal or leaning liberal, 30 percent moderate, and 32 percent conservative or leaning conservative;! 37 percent consider themselves Democrats, 25 percent Republicans, and 38 percent Independents.!
Employment status:! 55 percent are working as a paid employee, 3 percent are self-employed, and 21 percent are looking for work." "4
Obama Job Approval Improves to 47 Percent from Lows of 2013! The approval rating of President Obama has increased by six-percentage points (from 41% to 47%) since November 2013, the time period when our last survey of young Americans between 18- and 29years old was conducted. Rebounding from a previous low of 41 percent, the president saw steady gains across most of the major 18- to 29- year old subgroups that were analyzed, although in most every case, his approval rating remained below 50 percent. President Obamas approval rating is buoyed by the steady support of the Black community (83% approve) and the solid support of a volatile (i.e., nine-point swing in one year, 21-point swing in ve years) Hispanic community (60%); among Whites between 18- and 29- years old, the presidents approval rating is 33 percent. !
O B A M A A P P R O VA L R AT I N G ! BY SUBGROUP!
NOV 2009 ALL 18-29 18-24 25-29 COLLEGE DEM. REP. IND. WHITE BLACK HISPANIC MALE FEMALE 58% 60% 56% 57% 86% 21% 49% 48% 84% 81% 56% 60%
FEB 2010 56% 55% 57% 60% 84% 21% 49% 45% 83% 69% 53% 59%
OCT 2010 49% 48% 52% 51% 79% 18% 42% 37% 83% 62% 47% 52%
FEB 2011 55% 55% 55% 60% 81% 17% 46% 44% 83% 68% 52% 57%
DEC 2011 46% 44% 47% 48% 74% 15% 39% 35% 83% 52% 44% 48%
MAR 2012 52% 50% 55% 52% 81% 18% 40% 41% 82% 66% 50% 54%
OCT 2012 52% 50% 55% 49% 87% 12% 46% 40% 86% 70% 51% 53%
APR! 2013 52% 51% 54% 50% 86% 10% 46% 38% 84% 71% 50% 55%
NOV! 2013 41% 39% 43% 39% 79% 7% 31% 28% 75% 53% 41% 40%
APR 2014 47% 45% 48% 47% 79% 12% 38% 33% 83% 60% 45% 48%
Compared to the rst poll we conducted during the 2010 midterm election cycle, the presidents approval rating during this midterm cycle among 18- to 29-year olds is down nine percentage points overall, down 12 points among young Whites and nine points among young Hispanic and Latinos. Among Black voters there has been no change.! As the chart below indicates, the relative position of Republicans in Congress is similar, although they start from a base of support approximately half the size of the presidents. Compared to February 2010, "5
Barack Obama 58% 48% 35% 56% 49% 42% 32% 39% 28%
10/10
Republicans in Congress
52%
33% 24%
12/11
39% 25%
3/12
35%
11/09
2/10
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Mood of the Country is More Positive than in Fall, Still Not Back to Spring 2013 Levels! While there are still more than twice as many young Americans believing that things in the nation are off on the wrong track (45%) rather than the right direction (21%), this ratio stands as marked improvement compared to our December 2013 release when the wrong track to right direction ratio stood at more than three (49%) to one (14%). Currently, an additional 34 percent say they are not sure which direction the country is headed. Among Democrats, 37 percent say the nation is headed in the right direction (24% wrong track), while only nine percent of Republicans feel the same way (73% wrong track).!
A L L I N A L L , D O Y O U T H I N K T H I N G S I N T H E N AT I O N A R E ?
Right direction 52% 37% 36% 23% 39% 39% 43% 41%
42%
45%
23%
18%
10/10
20% 12%
2/11 12/11
20%
3/12
25%
25% 14%
21%
4/14
11/09
2/10
10/12
4/13
11/13
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H O W L I K E LY I S I T T H AT Y O U W I L L V O T E I N T H E M I D T E R M E L E C T I O N S F O R C O N G R E S S ? !
36%
31%
34% 23%
Nov 2009
Feb 2010
Nov 2013
Apr 2014
Currently, there seems to be more enthusiasm for midterm voting among traditional Republican consistencies than Democratic ones. For example, 44 percent of those who voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 say they are denitely voting, which is a statistically signicant difference compared to the 35 percent of 2012 Obama voters who say the same. Additionally, self-identied conservatives (32%) are 10 points more likely to vote than liberals (22%), men (28%) are nine points more likely to vote than women (19%), and young Whites (27%) are more likely to vote than Blacks (19%) and Hispanics (19%).!
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http://www.civicyouth.org//wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The-CPS-youth-vote-2010-FS-FINAL1.pdf
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O V E R T H E L A S T Y E A R , W O U L D Y O U S AY Y O U R O P I N I O N O F H I L L A RY C L I N T O N / ! C H R I S C H R I S T I E H A S G O T T E N B E T T E R , G O T T E N W O R S E , O R S TAY E D A B O U T T H E S A M E ? !
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Hillary Clinton
Chris Christie
Same! 66%
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Nearly Two-Third See Income Gap Growing, Parties Divided on Root Cause! Sixty-four percent (64%) of young Americans under 30, and a solid majority of Democrats and Republicans believe that the gap between the rich and everyone else in America is greater today than when they were born. A majority (52%) of young Americans consider this gap to be a major problem, while an additional 20 percent consider the issue to be a minor problem. Thirteen percent (13%) do not believe this to be a problem, and another 14 percent are unsure. This issue, which can prove to be highly divisive stands slightly behind the issue of student debt in the minds of 18- to 29- year old Millennials. In our fall 2013 release, it was reported that 57 percent believed student debt to be a major problem, 22 percent a minor problem and only four percent not a problem. Overall, 72 percent believe the income gap to be a problem in America, 79 percent say the same about student debt. While these two issues seem to be of serious concern to a majority of this important electoral cohort, student debt is an issue that unites members of the two parties, while debate about the income gap can quickly divide.! !
P E R C E N T W H O S AY T H AT E A C H I S A M A J O R P R O B L E M !
Democrat
Republican
62%
57%
65%
33%
Student debt
Another example of what appears to be a fundamental difference between the two parties is the way each thinks about the potential root causes of income disparity. For example:! Forty-four percent (44%) of Democrats believe that the gap in income is more the result of factors outside ones control, compared to 29 percent of Republicans who believe the same;! While 47 percent of Republicans believe that the gap is more the result of certain people working hard and making smart choices, compared to 29 percent of Democrats.! In addition to these differences by political party, the root causes of income disparity also result in cleavages by gender and age. Young men (37%) are signicantly more likely than young women (28%) to believe that the gap is more the result of certain people working hard and making smart choices; 18to 24- year olds (35%) are more likely than 25- to 29- year olds (29%) to believe the same. While a
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http://www.people-press.org/2014/04/02/section-2-views-of-marijuana-legalization-decriminalization-concerns/
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Support
Oppose
49% 28%
50% 38%
Democrat Republican
18-24
25-29
White
Black
Hispanic
Among the 10 percent of young Americans in our survey who report having used marijuana in the last few months, not surprisingly 88 percent support legalization; among those who have not used the drug in the last few months, 37 percent support legalization, 39 percent oppose legalization with 23 percent unsure, or on the fence.! When the question is changed to legalization for medical purposes, a majority of most every subgroup of 18- to 29- year olds support, including by party, gender, and age. Overall, two-thirds (66%) would support this measure, 14 percent would oppose and the percentage of young people saying they are unsure is 19 percent.! ! !
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Subtle Shifts Between 2010 and 2014 Election Cycle Are Evident Among 18- to 24- Year Olds! Compared to the last midterm cycle when we used the KnowledgePanel methodology for our survey, we nd that political party afliation and self-identied ideology of young Americans under the age of 30 years old to be generally stable. In 2010, 36 percent of 18- to 29- year olds afliated with the Democratic Party and 23 percent with the Republican party; in 2014, 37 percent afliate with the Democrats and 24 percent with Republicans. The Independents in 2010 were 40 percent, today they represent 38 percent. However, when 18- 24- year olds and 25- to 29- year olds from 2010 are compared to their same cohorts in 2014, we see subtle shifts. For example, as the table below indicates, Democrats have gained ve percentage points among 25- to 29- year olds since the last midterm cycle, while they have lost three points among 18- to 24- year olds. Where younger Millennials once held a 15-point Democrat to Republican margin, we now see this margin shifting to 25- to 29- year olds, while the 18-to 24- year olds margin is shrinking." !
PA RT Y I D E N T I F I C AT I O N B Y A G E ! 2010 VS. 2014
SPRING 2010
SPRING 2014
18-24 DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN! ADVANTAGE 38% 23% 37% +15
Since 2010, we have also noted that there has been a three-percentage point increase in the number of 18- to 29- year olds who call themselves moderate all of that change coming from the youngest cohort (18- to 24- year olds) who in 2010 were 39 percent liberal, 36 percent conservative and 26 moderate; they now consider themselves to be 35 percent liberal, 33 percent conservative and 31 moderate. !
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P O L I T I C A L T Y P O L O G Y O F D E M O C R AT S A N D R E P U B L I C A N S R A N K E D B Y L E V E L ! O F A G R E E M E N T B E T W E E N PA RT I E S ( 1 = S T R O N G LY A G R E E - 5 = S T R O N G LY D I S A G R E E ) "
Democrat
Republican
2.84 2.83 3.11 3.19 2.92 3.17 3.51 3.13 2.92 2.47 2.9 3.51 3.78 2.92 2.78 3.67 2.85 1.94 2.65 3.56 3.2 4.12 2.34 3.29 2.41 3.37 3.83 2.72 2.23 3.47
If parentschoose where they could send their children to school... I am willing to give up someprivacy for the sake of national security. Our country's goal...should be to eliminate all barriers to trade... In today's world, it is sometimes necessary to attack potentially hostile countries... Cutting taxes is an effective way to increase economic growth. Recent immigration into this country has done more good than harm. Religious values should play a more important role in government. Government spending is an effective way to increase economic growth. I am concerned about the moral direction of the country. Government should do more to curb climate change... Qualied minorities should be given special preferences in hiring and education. Basic necessities...are a right that government should provide... The government should spend more to reduce poverty. Homosexual relationships are morally wrong. Basic health insurance is a right for all people... 1
Agree
Disagree
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Levels of Trust Continue to Slide Across there Board, All Institutions Below 50%! Compared to one year ago, the level of trust that young Americans between 18- and 29- years old have in most American institutions tested in our survey has dissipated compared even to last years historically low numbers. For example, in the last 12 months, trust in the President has decreased from 39 percent to 32 percent, the U.S. military has decreased from 54 percent to 47 percent (the rst time below a majority) and the Supreme Court from 40 to 36 percent. Below is a graph that charts the composite trust index (an average of six public institutions tracked using the same methodology) since 2010. " !
C O M P O S I T E T R U S T I N D E X 3: ! P R E S I D E N T, U S M I L I TA RY, C O N G R E S S , S U P R E M E C O U RT, ! F E D E R A L G O V E R N M E N T, U N I T E D N AT I O N S !
39% 37%
2/10
2/11
3/12
4/13
4/14
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The level of trust that young Americans have in the President and the U.S. Military has suffered the most over the last year. The growing lack of trust in the President comes from Democrats (64% trusted the President to do the right thing all or most of the time in 2013, today the number is 53%) and Independents (31% in 2013, 23% today) and not from Republicans whose opinion has not changed in the last year. Thirteen percent (13%) of Republicans trust the President to do the right thing all or most of the time. ! These ndings stand in contrast to the U.S. Military; over the last year, the military has lost trust across all parties (Democrats are down 6 points to 44%, Republicans 5 points to 63% and Independents down 8 points to 40%)."
Composite trust index is the average percentage of those who trust each institution to do the right thing all or most of the time.
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FEB 2010
FEB 2011
MAR 2012
APR 2013
APR 2014
THE PRESIDENT THE US MILITARY THE CONGRESS THE SUPREME COURT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THE UNITED NATIONS YOUR STATE GOVERNMENT YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT WALL STREET THE MEDIA THE NSA
39% 54% 18% 40% 22% 34% 30% 34% 12% 11% -
32% 47% 14% 36% 20% 34% 28% 33% 12% 11% 24%
In 2010, the question asked about Wall Street executives and traditional media.!
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Appeal and Effectiveness of Politics Also on Decline! While we have seen a consistent and across the board drop in trust levels for some time, we also see a similar pattern on issues relation to the efcacy of the political process more generally. For example, since 2010, there has been a consistent six-point increase in those who agree with the statement that elected ofcials seem to be motivated by selsh reasons, more than three-in-ve (62%) now agree with this; and a similar six-point increase with agreement that political involvement rarely has any tangible results (23% in 2010, 29% in 2014). ! We also have tracked a seven-point increase in the number who agree with the statement, elected ofcials dont seem to have the same priorities I have (51% in 2010, 58% in 2014)."
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FEB 2010
FEB 2011
MAR 2012
APR 2013
APR 2014
COMMUNITY SERVICE IS AN HONORABLE THING TO DO ELECTED OFFICIALS SEEM TO BE MOTIVATED BY SELFISH REASONS ELECTED OFFICIALS DONT SEEM TO HAVE THE SAME PRIORITIES I HAVE POLITICS HAS BECOME TOO PARTISAN POLITICS TODAY ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OUR COUNTRY IS FACING PEOPLE LIKE ME DON'T HAVE ANY SAY ABOUT WHAT THE GOVERNMENT DOES RUNNING FOR OFFICE IS AN HONORABLE THING TO DO POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT RARELY HAS ANY TANGIBLE RESULTS THE IDEA OF WORKING IN SOME FORM OF PUBLIC SERVICE IS APPEALING TO ME
70%
69%
69%
70%
70%
54%
55%
59%
59%
62%
51%
55%
56%
58%
46%
44%
49%
48%
49%
45%
47%
48%
36%
35%
37%
37%
41%
35%
36%
35%
35%
32%
23%
24%
29%
28%
29%
33%
33%
31%
31%
29%
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Partisanship and Social Networks ! We also see similar differences when social platform use is analyzed across party lines. While Facebook seems to have the same number of Democrats (87%) as Republicans (87%) Google+ (52% of Democrats have an account compared to 36% of Republicans) and Twitter (46% of Democrats have an account compared to 38% of Republicans) seem to trend more Democratic. Pinterest, on the other hand, trends more Republican (40% have an account compared to 32% of Democrats). !
O N W H I C H O F T H E F O L L O W I N G P L AT F O R M S D O Y O U H AV E A N A C C O U N T ? ! - B Y P O L I T I C A L PA RT Y - "
Democrat Facebook Google+ Twitter Instagram Pinterest Snapchat Tumblr WhatsApp FourSquare
7% 11% 6% 7% 5% 24% 23% 18%
Republican
87% 87% 52% 36% 46% 38% 41% 37% 32% 40%
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Harvards Institute of Politics (IOP) was established in 1966 as a memorial to President Kennedy and aims to inspire undergraduates to consider careers in politics and public service. The Institute oversees the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, one of the worlds premier arenas for political speech, discussion, and debate, and runs a fellowship program offering a unique opportunity for political practitioners to spend semesters at Harvard and interact with students. The IOP also offers dozens of paid internships for eight to ten weeks during the summer; a nonpartisan, quarterly journal written and run entirely by undergraduates; and a unique, nationwide survey project of young adults political views.!
Students are offered wide-ranging opportunities, including internships and conferences intended to provide opportunities for interaction with the people who shape politics and public policy. The IOP does not offer formal courses or degree-granting programs; instead, it provides avenues for practical experience and encourages students to examine critically and think creatively about politics and public issues. For more information, including past results of these polls, please visit us online at www.iop.harvard.edu.!
! Harvard Institute of Politics team members who worked on this project include:! !
Trey Grayson! ! ! ! Director, Institute of Politics! !
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The Student Chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project Committee is Alex Wirth 15. ! Student members of the committee are: John Acton 17, Marc Bornstein 17, Kurt Bullard 17, Kathryn Bussey 17, Deniz Cataltepe 17, Jenny Choi 16, Rahul Dalal 15, Michelle Danoff 17, Colin Diersing 16, Frances Ding 17, Kate Donahue 16, Thomas Esty 14, Anjali Fernandes 17, Zoe Foulkes 17, Jenny Gao 16, Michael Gellman 17, Bella Gomez 17, Sarah Graham 17, Lauren Greenawalt 16, Ryan Grossman 15, Eva Guidarini 15 (former HPOP student chair), Melissa Hammer 17, Jake Hummer 17, Rachel Kassa 15, William Keith 16, Max Kennedy 16, Mariel Klein 17, Peter Kraft 17, Steven Lee 16, Paul Lisker 16, Zach Lustbader 16, Rhea Malik 17, Mason Marek 15, Katelyn McEvoy 17, Jacob Meisel 17, Jeff Metzger 17, Niyat Mulugheta 16, Tyler Olkowski 17, Meg Panetta 17, Allyson Perez 17, John Pulice 15, Allison Rachesky 15, Ellen Robo 16, Dan Rubin 17, Wesley Sagewalker 15, Jonathan Sands 17, Gillian Slee 16, Ved Topkar 16, Maximilian Ubias 17, Lauren Volpert 17, Jennifer Walsh 17, Susan Wang 17, Matthew Warshauer 14 (former HPOP student chair), Paul Wei 15, Kit Wu 17, Alissa Zhang 16!
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The GfK Group (formerly Knowledge Networks) is passionate about research in marketing, media, health and social policy collaborating closely with client teams throughout the research process, while applying rigor in everything we do. We specialize in innovative online research that consistently gives leaders in business, government, and academia the condence to make important decisions. GfK has recruited the rst online research panel that is representative of the entire U.S. population. Panel members are randomly recruited through probability-based sampling, and households are provided with access to the Internet and hardware if needed.# ! GfK recruits panel members by using address-based sampling methods [formerly GfK relied on random-digit dialing methods]. Once household members are recruited for the panel and assigned to a study sample, they are notied by email for survey taking, or panelists can visit their online member page for survey taking (instead of being contacted by telephone or postal mail). This allows surveys to be elded very quickly and economically. In addition, this approach reduces the burden placed on respondents, since email notication is less intrusive than telephone calls, and most respondents nd "2 3
The GfK Group has a strong tradition in working with sophisticated academic, government, and commercial researchers to provide high quality research, samples, and analyses. The larger GfK Group offers the fundamental knowledge for governmental agencies, academics, industries, industry, retailers, services companies and the media need to provide exceptional quality in research to make effective decisions. It delivers a comprehensive range of information and consultancy services. GfK is one of the leading survey research organizations worldwide, operating in more than 100 countries with over 11,000 research staff. In 2010, the GfK Groups sales amounted to EUR 1.29 billion. !
Panel Recruitment Methodology! When GfK began recruiting in 1999 as Knowledge Networks, the company established the rst online research panel (now called KnowledgePanel) based on probability sampling covering both the online and ofine populations in the U.S. Panel members are recruited through national random samples, originally by telephone and now almost entirely by postal mail. Households are provided with access to the Internet and a netbook computer, if needed.# Unlike Internet convenience panels, also known as opt-in panels, that include only individuals with Internet access who volunteer themselves for research, KnowledgePanel recruitment has used dual sample frames to construct the existing panel. As a result, panel members come from listed and unlisted telephone numbers, telephone and nontelephone households, and cell phone only households, as well as households with and without Internet access, which creates a representative sample.# Only persons sampled through these probability-based techniques are eligible to participate on KnowledgePanel.# Unless invited to do so as part of these national samples, no one on their own can volunteer to be on the panel.# ! RDD and ABS Sample Frames! KnowledgePanel members today may have been recruited by either the former random digit dialing (RDD) sampling or the current address-based sampling (ABS) methodologies. In this section, we will describe the RDD-based methodology; the ABS methodology is described in a separate section below. To offset attrition, multiple recruitment samples are elded evenly throughout the calendar year.!
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ABS involves probability-based sampling of addresses from the U.S. Postal Services Delivery Sequence File. Randomly sampled addresses are invited to join KnowledgePanel through a series of mailings and, in some cases, telephone follow-up calls to non-responders when a telephone number can be matched to the sampled address. Operationally, invited households have the option to join the panel by one of several ways: ! Completing and returning a paper form in a postage-paid envelope,! Calling a toll-free hotline maintained by GfK, or ! Going to a dedicated GfK web site and completing an online recruitment form. !
After initially accepting the invitation to join the panel, respondents are then proled online by answering key demographic questions about themselves. This prole is maintained through the same procedures that were previously established for RDD-recruited panel members. Respondents not having an Internet connection are provided a laptop or netbook computer and free Internet service. Respondents sampled from the ABS frame, like those sampled from the RDD frame, are offered the same privacy terms and condentiality protections that we have developed over the years and that have been reviewed and approved by dozens of Institutional Review Boards.! Large-scale ABS sampling for KnowledgePanel recruitment began in April 2009. As a result, sample coverage on KnowledgePanel of CPOHHs, young adults, and minority population groups has been increasing steadily since that time. ! Because current KnowledgePanel members have been recruited over time from two different sample frames, RDD and ABS, GfK implemented several technical processes to merge samples sourced from these frames. KNs approach preserves the representative structure of the overall panel for the selection of individual client study samples. An advantage of mixing ABS frame panel members in any KnowledgePanel sample is a reduction in the variance of the weights. ABS-sourced samples tend to align more closely to the overall demographic distributions in the population, and thus the associated adjustment weights are somewhat more uniform and less varied. This variance reduction efcaciously "2 7
An address match is attempted on all the Random Digit Dial (RDD)-generated telephone numbers in the sample after the sample has been purged of business and institutional numbers and screened for non-working numbers. The success rate for address matching is in the 60 to 70% range. Households having telephone numbers with valid addresses are sent an advance letter, notifying them that they will be contacted by phone to join KnowledgePanel. The remaining, unmatched numbers are undersampled as a recruitment efciency strategy. Advance letters improve recruitment success rates. Under-sampling was suspended between July 2005 and April 2007. It was resumed in May 2007, using a sampling rate of 0.75. RDD recruitment ended in July 2009.! 2.! RDD selection proportional to the number of telephone landlines reaching the household!
As part of the eld data collection operation, information is collected on the number of separate telephone landlines in each selected household. The probability of selecting a multiple-line household is down-weighted by the inverse of the number of landlines. RDD recruitment ended in July 2009.! 3.! Some minor oversampling of Chicago and Los Angeles in early pilot surveys!
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At the time when the panel was rst being built, survey demand in the four largest states (California, New York, Florida, and Texas) necessitated oversampling during JanuaryOctober 2000. Similarly, the central region states were oversampled for a brief period of time. These now diminishing effects still remain in the panel membership and thus weighting adjustments are required for these geographic areas.! 5.! Under-sampling of households not covered by the MSN TV service network!
Certain small areas of the U.S. are not serviced by MSN, thus the MSNTV units (Web-TV) distributed to non-Internet households prior to January 2009 could not be used for those recruited nonInternet households. Overall, the result is a small residual under-sample in those geographic areas which requires a minor weighting adjustment for those locations. Since January 2010, laptop computers with dial-up access are being distributed to non-Internet households, thus eliminating this under-coverage component.! 6.! RDD oversampling of African American and Hispanic telephone exchanges!
As of October 2001, oversampling of telephone exchanges with a higher density of minority households (specically, African American and Hispanic) was implemented to increase panel membership for those groups. These exchanges were oversampled at approximately twice the rate of other exchanges. This oversampling is corrected in the base weight. RDD recruitment ended in July 2009.! 7.! Address-based sample phone match adjustment!
Toward the end of 2008, GfK began recruiting panel members by using an address-based sample (ABS) frame in addition to RDD recruitment. Once recruitment through the mail, including follow-up mailings to ABS non-respondents was completed, telephone recruitment was added. Non-responding ABS households where a landline telephone number could be matched to an address were subsequently called and telephone recruitment was initiated. This effort resulted in a slight overall disproportionate number of landline households being recruited in a given ABS sample. A base weight adjustment is applied to return the ABS recruitment panel members to the samples correct national proportion of phone-match and no phone-match households.! 8.! ABS oversample stratication adjustment!
In late 2009 the ABS sample began incorporating a geographic stratication design. Census blocks with high density minority communities were oversampled (Stratum 1) and the balance of the census blocks (Stratum 2) were relatively under-sampled. The denition of high density and minority community and the relative proportion between strata differed among specic ABS samples. In 2010, the two strata were redened to target high density Hispanic areas in Stratum 1 and all else in Stratum 2. In 2011, "3 1
As part of the eld data collection operation, information was collected on the number of separate telephone landlines in each eligible (Spanish-speaking) household. A multiple- line households selection probability is down-weighted by the inverse of its number of landlines.! 2.! Geographic frame balancing for RDD and listed surname samples!
The recruitment sample frame has a given proportional distribution across 11 regions, each consisting of both a high and low Hispanic population density area (ranging from 0.3% density to 13.9%; average = 4.6%). This adjustment factor returns the recruited households by area to their correct relative proportion across the 22 geographic density areas.! In 2011, the above telephone recruitment method was replaced with a pure probability-based RDD sample targeting telephone exchanges that covered Hispanic population areas of 45% or greater density based on census block data. In 2012, the density level was raised to 65%. The Spanish-language base weight compensates for this RDD sample approach when combined with other Hispanic panel.! The Panel Demographic Post-stratication Weight! To reduce the effects of any non-response and non-coverage bias in the overall panel membership (before the study sample is drawn), a post-stratication adjustment is applied based on demographic distributions from the March 2013 Supplement data from the Current Population Survey (CPS). Spanish language usage, however, is based on the 2010-2012 Pew Hispanic Center Survey (most recently available published data at this time). Language usage adjustments allow for the correct proportional tting of Spanish-speaking members relative to other English-speaking Hispanic and non-
"3 2
"3 3
Coeff of Varitaion
1st Pctl
99th Pctl
Sum
3,058
0.049
4.975
1.000
124.266
0.049
4.975
3058.00
"3 4