Does Survey Mode Still Matter? Findings from a 2010 Multi-Mode Comparison

Stephen Ansolabehere; Brian F. Schaffner

doi:10.1093/pan/mpt025

Does Survey Mode Still Matter? Findings from a 2010 Multi-Mode Comparison

Stephen Ansolabehere

Professor of Government, Harvard University, 1737 Cambridge Street, CGIS Knafel Building 410, Cambridge, MA 02138
e-mail: sda{at}gov.harvard.edu

Brian F. Schaffner

Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Thompson Hall 316, 200 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: schaffne{at}polsci.umass.edu (corresponding author)

Abstract

In this article, we present data from a three-mode survey comparison study carried out in 2010. National surveys were fielded at the same time over the Internet (using an opt-in Internet panel), by telephone with live interviews (using a national Random Digit Dialing (RDD) sample of landlines and cell phones), and by mail (using a national sample of residential addresses). Each survey utilized a nearly identical questionnaire soliciting information across a range of political and social indicators, many of which can be validated with government data. Comparing the findings from the modes using a Total Survey Error approach, we demonstrate that a carefully executed opt-in Internet panel produces estimates that are as accurate as a telephone survey and that the two modes differ little in their estimates of other political indicators and their correlates.