1. Internet Surveys and the CSES David Howell University of Michigan dahowell@umich.edu dahowell@umich.edu Cyberinfrastructure and National Election Studies The Wivenhoe House Conference June 8-9, 2007

2. Overview of the CSES Project

3. The Origins of the CSES Stimulated by ICORE in 1995 — International collaboration among national election studies — Designed to study variations in electoral systems (and other political institutions) 10-15 minute module with common questions in national election studies

4. Module Topics Module 1 (1996-2001) — Performance of the System Module 2 (2001-2006) — Representation and Accountability Module 3 (2006-2011) —Electoral Choices

5. Organization and Process 1.An international Planning Committee, comprised of, selected by, and informed by collaborators, designs and oversees each Module 2.Collaborators raise funds locally and collect data for their country in a post-election study 3.Collaborators deposit data, documentation and reports with the CSES Secretariat 4.Secretariat processes and merges the items into a single data file for comparative study

6. CSES Datasets All in one file, for all election studies and countries... Respondent data Administrative variables and weights CSES questionnaire (module) Demographic variables Vote District-level data Macro-level data

7. AustraliaThe Netherlands BelgiumNew Zealand CanadaNorway ChilePeru Czech RepublicPoland DenmarkPortugal GermanyRomania Great BritainRussia Hong KongSlovenia HungarySpain IcelandSweden IsraelSwitzerland JapanTaiwan KoreaUnited States Mexico Belarus Lithuania Thailand Ukraine Albania Brazil Bulgaria Finland France Ireland Italy Kyrgyzstan Philippines Both Module 1 and Module 2Only Module 1Only Module 2 Countries/Provinces: CSES Modules 1 and 2

8. Countries/Provinces: CSES Modules 1-3

9. Availability of Data — Free, public access without embargo — Available from CSES website: www.cses.org — Also archived at ICPSR, Zentralarchiv Cologne, and other locations

10. Data Releases Module 1 (1996-2001) - July 2002 Full Release: 39 election studies, 33 countries Module 2 (2001-2006) - June 27, 2007 Full Release: 41 election studies, 38 countries

11. CSES Bibliography The CSES Bibliography contains over 300 entries:  9 books  3 online publications  31 book chapters  8 newsletter articles/reports  42 journal articles  29 Plenary presentations  161 conference presentations  22 working papers  2 dissertations Citations and links are available on the CSES website.

12. Internet Surveys and the CSES

13. Election studies must meet Aspired to Standards for Data Quality and Comparability, including... (CSES Planning Committee, 1996) Post-election study, soon afterwards National, random sample with good coverage Include CSES questionnaire “as is” 1,000 or more interviews Face-to-face, unless alternate improves quality High response rate CSES Collaborator Requirements

14. Internet Surveys and the CSES: Four Issues Mode Is the Internet an acceptable CSES data collection mode? Sample Coverage What are the implications of Internet penetration? Sample Selection How must Internet samples be constructed to meet CSES guidelines? Response Rates Do Internet response rates satisfy CSES guidelines?

15. Issue: Mode CSES Module 1: 70% face-to-face 15% mail/self-completion 10% telephone 5% mixed Is the Internet an acceptable CSES data collection mode? -> YES (Decision taken at the CSES Module 3 Planning Committee Meeting in Seville, Spain, March 2006)

16. Issue: Sample Coverage What are the implications of Internet penetration? Internet penetration rate varies greatly May exclude some countries/provinces ->?

17. % Internet “Users” in CSES Countries/Provinces Source: Internet World (http://www.internetworldstats.com/index.html), May 2007http://www.internetworldstats.com/index.html

18. Issue: Sample Selection How must Internet samples be constructed to meet CSES guidelines? “We strongly encourage the use of random samples, with random sampling procedures used at all stages of the sampling process.” (CSES Planning Committee, 1996) -> Non-probability samples will not be accepted (Decision taken at the CSES Module 3 Planning Committee Meeting in Bangalore, India, November 2006)

19. Issue: Response Rate Do Internet response rates satisfy CSES guidelines? “Collaborators should make every effort to ensure a high response rate.” (CSES Planning Committee, 1996) Response rates are lower on the Internet than in F2F Denominator must be from the recruitment stage ->? CSES Module 1: Reported response rate was over 60% on average.

20. Conclusions

21. Internet Surveys and the CSES David Howell University of Michigan dahowell@umich.edu dahowell@umich.edu Cyberinfrastructure and National Election Studies The Wivenhoe House Conference June 8-9, 2007