This course provides an overview of some current best methods for dealing with unit nonresponse in sample surveys. The course examines trends in nonresponse rates over the years and its main causes and effects. Most of the course focuses on methods for reducing nonresponse at the survey design and data collection stages and for compensating for nonresponse bias at the estimation stage through weighting adjustments. However, some time is also devoted to methods for evaluating the effects of nonresponse on the mean squared errors of the estimates.

Instructor: Paul Biemer

Paul Biemer holds a joint appointment with the Odum Institute and RTI International, where he is a Distinguished Fellow. He also holds adjunct faculty appointments in the University of Maryland Joint Program for Survey Research and in the University of Michigan Survey Research Center. Biemer has more than 35 years of experience in survey methods and statistics. He specializes in evaluating survey quality and is a leading expert on statistical modeling, analysis, and interpretation of survey results. Biemer has a Ph.D. in statistics from Texas A&M University. His research interests include: Measurement error in surveys; nonsampling error modeling and estimation; general survey methodology and statistical methods. Biemer teaches several short courses for the program including: Introduction to Survey Quality, An Overview of Methods for Evaluating Survey Error, and Techniques for Modeling Survey Measurement Error.

This course will count as 4.0 CPSM short course credit hours.