Courtney Kennedy

Bias from Wireless Substitution in Surveys of Hispanics.

Increasingly, American households are choosing to forgo ownership of landline telephones in favor of cell phones. Presently, more than 25% of Hispanics now only own a cell phone. Concern about potential bias from noncoverage of this “cell-only” population in traditional general population RDD (random digit dial) telephone interviewing has been a particular focus among the survey research community. Because Hispanics lead all ethnic and racial groups in the percentage who are now cell-only, it is critical to understand the impact this has on research of Hispanics, which to date is still largely accomplished using traditional landline telephone survey methods. This article explores the extent to which noncoverage of cell-only Hispanics leads to raw bias in landline telephone surveys of Hispanics and the degree to which survey weights may correct for such bias.