Advances in Comparative Survey Methodology

This book builds upon a previously-successful 2008 conference and resulting 2010 Wiley book, Survey Methods in Multinational, Multiregional and Multicultural Contexts (Harkness), recent winner of the 2013 American Association of Public Opinion and Research (AAPOR) Book Award. It is the by-product of a similar conference, which was held eight years later. Since the 2008 conference, there have been substantial methodological, operational and technical advances in international survey research. There are also whole new areas of methodological development that were only on the horizon when the last book was completed. For example, the use of 'big data' in concert with survey data, collecting biomarkers, the human subject regulatory environment, innovations in data collection methodology and sampling techniques, use of paradata across the survey lifecycle, metadata standards for dissemination, and new analytical techniques are all new topics since 2008, which have yet to be addressed in a multi-cultural environment and are now reflected in this up-dated version of the subject. One of the book’s aims is to develop best practices in new areas of development including papers on agricultural surveys, which are frequently conducted in developing countries and have many methodological challenges that are now being met with innovative (and inexpensive) technologies; eHealth in resource poor countries, many combining surveys with public health interventions; and national statistics from third-world countries such as Africa, South America, and Asia. It is written by over two-dozen of the world’s foremost authorities in their respective fields.