Date:         Fri, 11 Oct 2002 19:08:04 -0400
Reply-To:     "Jeff A." <lists3@jp.pair.com>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Jeff A." <lists3@jp.pair.com>
Subject:      Honesty and Missing Income
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

...not directly a spss question, but this is likely quite relevant to many
here.


Is anyone aware of any research that would suggest what the relationship is
between the refusal to provide household income on a survey and the overall
honesty of the respondent or the accuracy of their survey answers?

We have some analyses where there is a good deal of missing income
measures.  When we simply delete these cases our effect sizes increase, but
our other analyses do not seem indicative of any real interactions between
income and other variables on the outcome.  In other words, if we use
alternative measures of socio-economic status, or impute income using
different techniques, we are finding no interactions of income with our
other variables.  A few other findings seem to suggest that the individuals
in this particular survey who refuse to give their income may simply be
providing other responses less accurately also.

...now wondering if there is any prior research that would support or
refute our assumption.  Maybe something in public opinion quarterly?

Thanks in advance.