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Reaching Migrants in Survey Research: The Use of the Global Positioning System to Reduce Coverage Bias in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2017

Pierre F. Landry  and
Mingming Shen
Pierre F. Landry
Affiliation:
Yale University, Department of Political Science, 124 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06520–8301. e-mail: pierre.landry@yale.edu
Mingming Shen
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, School of Government, 416 Library Building, Peking University, Beijing, China 100871. e-mail: shenmm@rcccpku.org
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Abstract

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List-based samples are often biased because of coverage errors. The problem is especially acute in societies where the level of internal migration is high and where record keeping on the population is not reliable. We propose a solution based on spatial sampling that overcomes the inability to reach migrants in traditional area samples based on household lists. A comparison between a traditional study and our sample of Beijing demonstrates that coverage bias is greatly reduced. The successful incorporation of mobile urban residents has important substantive effects, in both univariate and multivariate analyses of public opinion data.

Type
Research Article
Information
Political Analysis , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , Winter 2005 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Political Methodology 2005 

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