1. Differences in Online and Telephone Responses Keith Ingham, Ryan Gondek, Jimmy Mauk, and Dr. Escaleras College of Business: Economics Do people give extreme responses depending on the mode of data collection? Introduction Research has found people will give more extreme positive responses through telephone surveys, opposed to surveys conducted online. One explanation of this could be people being unwilling to give negative responses to another individual. The reluctance of individuals to provide negative responses to another is known as the MUM effect. Such an effect can make assessing individuals taste and preferences more difficult, and the results less accurate. Being aware of possible inaccuracies, and adjusting for them can improve the inferences made from the data. This study examines the accuracy of prior research as concerns the Hispanic population. Accurate results are essential in understanding the tastes and preferences of the growing Hispanic population in the United States. Hypothesis Ho: There is no difference between online and telephone responses. Ha: There is a difference between online and telephone responses. Do people give extreme responses depending on the mode of data collection? Introduction Research has found people will give more extreme positive responses through telephone surveys, opposed to surveys conducted online. One explanation of this could be people being unwilling to give negative responses to another individual. The reluctance of individuals to provide negative responses to another is known as the MUM effect. Such an effect can make assessing individuals taste and preferences more difficult, and the results less accurate. Being aware of possible inaccuracies, and adjusting for them can improve the inferences made from the data. This study examines the accuracy of prior research as concerns the Hispanic population. Accurate results are essential in understanding the tastes and preferences of the growing Hispanic population in the United States. Hypothesis Ho: There is no difference between online and telephone responses. Ha: There is a difference between online and telephone responses. Results Based on our results, 25% out of the 613 observations strongly approve of President Obama while only 4.2% of the 190 individuals surveyed online had similar views (graph 2). Thus, there is a significant difference the approval rating of Obama surveyed between the phone and online, where χ² (4, n=803) = 79.630, p <0.01. There is a small but statistically significant relationship between the variables where phi =0.315. Discussion Our results support the findings by Ye Cong (2011). That is, surveys conducted over the phone present more extreme positive responses. Based on our results we can argue that surveyors must be cautious when reporting results from polls. This is because of how drastic results differ depending on how the data is gathered, whether that be through phone surveys or online surveys. Overall, our results show that the Hispanic population fall in line with the general populations consistently more positive responses through the phone versus an online survey. Using this information one can therefore make better and more accurate predictions assuming that phone survey data will be far more positive than online data. This way one does not overstate the positivity of responses. References 1.Ye, Cong 2011. “More Positive or More Extreme? A Meta-Analysis of Mode Differences in Response Choice.” Public Opinion Quarterly 75 (2): 349-365. Results Based on our results, 25% out of the 613 observations strongly approve of President Obama while only 4.2% of the 190 individuals surveyed online had similar views (graph 2). Thus, there is a significant difference the approval rating of Obama surveyed between the phone and online, where χ² (4, n=803) = 79.630, p <0.01. There is a small but statistically significant relationship between the variables where phi =0.315. Discussion Our results support the findings by Ye Cong (2011). That is, surveys conducted over the phone present more extreme positive responses. Based on our results we can argue that surveyors must be cautious when reporting results from polls. This is because of how drastic results differ depending on how the data is gathered, whether that be through phone surveys or online surveys. Overall, our results show that the Hispanic population fall in line with the general populations consistently more positive responses through the phone versus an online survey. Using this information one can therefore make better and more accurate predictions assuming that phone survey data will be far more positive than online data. This way one does not overstate the positivity of responses. References 1.Ye, Cong 2011. “More Positive or More Extreme? A Meta-Analysis of Mode Differences in Response Choice.” Public Opinion Quarterly 75 (2): 349-365. Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 6, 2012 Methodology Data for our research project uses a hybrid data collection approach, using telephone and online survey, providing a more representative sample and more accurate results The research project consists of 500 completed surveys from the national Hispanic population 250 from a random sample using interactive voice response(IVR) data collection and 250 from an online panel Methodology Data for our research project uses a hybrid data collection approach, using telephone and online survey, providing a more representative sample and more accurate results The research project consists of 500 completed surveys from the national Hispanic population 250 from a random sample using interactive voice response(IVR) data collection and 250 from an online panel