Improving the Network Scale-Up Estimator: Incorporating Means of Sums, Recursive Back Estimation, and Sampling Weights Data File

In the spring of 2014 the Nebraska Community Survey was sent to a random sample of 2,000 households in Nebraska. The sample was obtained from the United States Postal Service delivery sequence file (DSF) through the Bureau of Sociological Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Seasonal and vacant households were removed from the sample by the provider. The DSF covers approximately 97 percent of U.S. Households and provides a reasonable frame for the Nebraska population. The Institutional Review Board at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln approved the research protocol and granted the project an exempt status (IRB# 20140314288 EX). Each household in the sample was sent a packet which included a letter introducing the survey, a one dollar incentive, a copy of the survey questionnaire, and a pre-paid return envelope. The person in the household to take the survey was selected using the next-birthday method, a quasi-probability selection design. Eligible respondents had to be at least 19 years old, the age of majority in Nebraska, and be the next person in the household to have a birthday after April 14, 2014. A week after the initial mailing a reminder postcard was sent to any households that had not responded to the initial mailing. Three weeks later, a second survey packet was sent to non-responding households. If at any time a respondent asked to be removed from the address list all further mailings were stopped. After the third mailing data was collected for approximately another six weeks, allowing respondents ample time to complete and return their survey. More information can be found in the complete publication.