Hopelab & Well Being Trust 24
Response Rate and Margin of Error
The American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) defines
several component rates used to calculate final response rates. Using
those definitions, the final stage completion rate for this survey is
37.3 percent, the weighted household panel AAPOR III response rate
is 33.7 percent, and the weighted household panel retention rate is
88.1 percent, for a cumulative response rate of 5.9 percent. Single-
digit response rates are more typical now than in the past, due to the
methodological challenges associated with, for example, the decline
of landline telephones, a traditional way to contact U.S. households.
Longitudinal assessments of declining response rates have shown
that the data collected are reliable since the people answering the
questions still reflect the total population. In other words, Americans
across every demographic group are not responding to survey invita-
tions.
9
However, there is also the possibility that people experiencing
emotional problems, such as depressive symptoms, are less likely
to respond to a survey. The overall margin of sampling error for this
survey is +/- 5.0 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence
level, including the design effect. The margin of sampling error may
be higher for subgroups.
Weighting
Once the sample was selected and fielded, and all the study data
were collected and made final, a post-stratification process was
used to adjust for any survey nonresponse as well as any non-coverage
or under- and over-sampling resulting from the study-specific sample
design. Post-stratification variables included age, gender, census
division, race/ethnicity, and education. Weighting variables were
obtained from the 2017 Current Population Survey. The weighted
data reflect the U.S. population of young people age 14 to 22.
9
Deane, C. et al. "Flashpoints in Polling"
(Pew Research Center, 2016). See: http://
www.pewresearch.org/2016/08/01/
flashpoints-in-polling/
Methodology
