Getting it Right: Estimating the Share of Volunteers in Denmark

Abraham, Helms and Presser (2009) demonstrated that people who volunteer are more likely to participate in surveys. The apparent consequence of such a pattern among respondents is that estimates of volunteering could be biased. Surveys with voluntary work as the main topic could be further biased du...

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Main Author: Jonathan Hermansen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Scandinavian University Press 2018-02-01
Series:Nordic Journal of Social Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/2146
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author Jonathan Hermansen
author_facet Jonathan Hermansen
author_sort Jonathan Hermansen
collection DOAJ
description Abraham, Helms and Presser (2009) demonstrated that people who volunteer are more likely to participate in surveys. The apparent consequence of such a pattern among respondents is that estimates of volunteering could be biased. Surveys with voluntary work as the main topic could be further biased due to the volunteers’ interest on this issue compared with non-volunteers. The article uses panel data from Denmark in order to examine the bias due to panel attrition as a special kind of nonresponse bias and its consequences for estimates of volunteering. The results show that panel attrition leads to an overestimation of the share of people who volunteer.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1892-2783
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publishDate 2018-02-01
publisher Scandinavian University Press
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series Nordic Journal of Social Research
spelling doaj-art-de2f129f86a14dc8b5d1fea0da0df0bf2025-08-20T03:24:40ZengScandinavian University PressNordic Journal of Social Research1892-27832018-02-01910.7577/njsr.21462146Getting it Right: Estimating the Share of Volunteers in DenmarkJonathan Hermansen0University College UCCAbraham, Helms and Presser (2009) demonstrated that people who volunteer are more likely to participate in surveys. The apparent consequence of such a pattern among respondents is that estimates of volunteering could be biased. Surveys with voluntary work as the main topic could be further biased due to the volunteers’ interest on this issue compared with non-volunteers. The article uses panel data from Denmark in order to examine the bias due to panel attrition as a special kind of nonresponse bias and its consequences for estimates of volunteering. The results show that panel attrition leads to an overestimation of the share of people who volunteer.https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/2146volunteeringpanel attritionparticipationsocial desirability
spellingShingle Jonathan Hermansen
Getting it Right: Estimating the Share of Volunteers in Denmark
Nordic Journal of Social Research
volunteering
panel attrition
participation
social desirability
title Getting it Right: Estimating the Share of Volunteers in Denmark
title_full Getting it Right: Estimating the Share of Volunteers in Denmark
title_fullStr Getting it Right: Estimating the Share of Volunteers in Denmark
title_full_unstemmed Getting it Right: Estimating the Share of Volunteers in Denmark
title_short Getting it Right: Estimating the Share of Volunteers in Denmark
title_sort getting it right estimating the share of volunteers in denmark
topic volunteering
panel attrition
participation
social desirability
url https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/2146
work_keys_str_mv AT jonathanhermansen gettingitrightestimatingtheshareofvolunteersindenmark