The second conference of the European Survey Research Association (ESRA) will be held June 25-29, 2007 in Prague, Czech Republic. A large variety of topics will be discussed, among which is Sampling for Cross-national and Multi-frame Surveys
Large-scale, cross-national surveys such as the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), the European Values Study or the Eurobarometer have become more and more popular in the last years. Unfortunately, sampling aspects did not stand in the foreground of such surveys. Some of these surveys obeyed a mixture of quota and probability sampling, others followed the rule that exactly the same design had to be applied in each participating country. Altogether, there was not much time spent on sampling issues. In recent years, however, the situation has changed. It came into the mind of researchers that it is very important for cross-national surveys to select equivalent samples in all participating countries because lack of equivalence in the samples can undermine the central objective of crossnational comparison. However, achieving equivalent samples is a challenging task. The sampling frames available in different countries vary greatly in their properties. Additionally, survey practices can vary too. In this session we want to discuss sampling approaches of cross-national and multi-frame surveys. We invite methodologists and statisticians who are responsible for sampling strategies in sample surveys to present details of the approaches utilised in the respective surveys. We want to learn more about features like sampling frames, methods for area based sampling, recordal of selection probabilities, sampling documentation and estimation. The central topic of this session is a discussion on how equivalence in cross-national surveys can be achieved. Presentations of multi-frame designs within one nation are also welcome.
The session is organized by Sabine Häder — Centre for Survey Research and Methodology (ZUMA), Germany Siegfried Gabler — Centre for Survey Research and Methodology (ZUMA), Germany Seppo Laaksonen — Statistics Finland, Finland Peter Lynn — University of Essex, United Kingdom
Please send abstracts of around 250 (max. 500) words to Sabine Haeder (Mannheim, Germany): haeder@zuma-mannheim.de by May 1, 2007.
Further Information on the Conference can be found on the conference homepage
http://esra.sqp.nl/esra/conferences/2007/