Jette Schröder

Effects of relationship duration, cohabitation, and marriage on the frequency of intercourse in couples: Findings from German panel data.

Research into the changes in the frequency of sexual intercourse is (with few exceptions) limited to cross-sectional analyses of marital duration. We investigate the frequency of intercourse while taking into account relationship duration as well as the duration of cohabitation and marriage, effects of parenthood, and relationship quality. For the analysis we apply fixed effects regression models using data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), a nationwide randomly sampled German panel survey. Our findings imply that the drop in sex frequency occurs early in the relationship, whereas neither cohabitation nor marriage affects the frequency of intercourse to a significant extent. Sex frequency is reduced during pregnancy and as long as the couple has small children, but becomes revived later on. Relationship quality is found to play a role as well. These results are contrary to the honeymoon effect found in earlier research, but indicate that in times of postponed marriage an analogous effect may be at work in the initial period of the relationship.

Does panel conditioning affect data quality in ego-centered social network questions?

Abstract This article investigates the data quality of ego-centered social network modules in web surveys. It specifically examines whether these modules are subject to the effects of the repeated measurement of the same questions known as panel conditioning effects. Ego-centered social network modules are especially at risk of panel conditioning effects because many of the components in these modules are repetitive. Based on the theories of motivated underreporting and survey satisficing, we hypothesized that respondents reduce the length of the module by underreporting their network size and/or network density. To systematically test for panel conditioning effects, we experimentally varied the treatment frequency in a longitudinal study design, which included three panel waves. The results of our study showed that we generally obtained high quality data with relatively large reported network sizes and densities, low rates of item non-response, and low non-differentiation. In contrast to our expectations, the reported average network sizes were not smaller, and the network densities were not lower when respondents were asked to answer the same social network module multiple times. We found, however, patterns of individual change in network sizes that might be due to panel conditioning. Respondents with large network sizes in a panel wave reported smaller network sizes in the subsequent wave, while respondents with small network sizes reported larger network sizes in the subsequent wave. Respondents’ ability and motivation did not affect these results. Thus, we would like to encourage researchers to further explore the opportunity of implementing ego-centered social network modules in cross-sectional as well as longitudinal self-administered surveys, while being cautious that in longitudinal surveys the chance of panel conditioning effects may increase with the average network size and the response burden of the network module.

The Nuisance Mosquito Anopheles plumbeus (Stephens, 1828) in Germany—A Questionnaire Survey May Help Support Surveillance and Control

The mosquito species Anopheles plumbeus is an aggressive biter and a potential vector of malaria parasites and West Nile virus. It occurs naturally at low population densities, as its larval development is adapted to the specific water qualities found in tree holes. However, probably owing to environmental changes, it has recently been observed in several European countries to use increasingly often artificial breeding habitats that may lead to mass development and severe annoyance to humans living close by. The perception of mosquito nuisance, however, is very subjective, and breeding habitats are not always known, thus impeding targeted surveillance and control. To relate nuisance by An. plumbeus to specific environmental conditions, a questionnaire survey was carried out addressing persons who had submitted specimens of this particular mosquito species to the German citizen science project “Mueckenatlas”, an instrument of passive mosquito surveillance. The questionnaire was intended to find out whether a nuisance situation linked to An. plumbeus had existed, whether mosquito breeding habitats could be identified and whether control measures had been conducted. Despite some efforts, the participants who claimed to suffer from an An. plumbeus nuisance problem had rarely identified the source of the mosquitoes. Once control measures had been performed on abandoned manure pits, however, the nuisance problem disappeared or mosquito abundance was at least significantly reduced. Nevertheless, no significant effect of abandoned manure pits on the probability of an An. plumbeus nuisance could be demonstrated in a multivariate logistic regression model testing various variables. Instead, a significant positive effect of a disused farm nearby was found. The reason is probably that manure pits as the most frequent source of An. plumbeus mass development are often located on disused farms, without most people’s knowledge about their existence. Disused farms are therefore appropriate candidates to consider when it comes to public health issues connected to An. plumbeus such as surveillance of mass development and implementation of control measures.

The effect of interviewers' motivation and attitudes on respondents' consent to contact secondary respondents in a multi-actor design

In surveys using a multi-actor design, data is collected not only from sampled ‘primary’ respondents, but also from related persons such as partners, colleagues, or friends. For this purpose, primary respondents are asked for their consent to survey such ‘secondary’ respondents. The existence of interviewer effects on unit nonresponse of sampled respondents in surveys is well documented, and research increasingly focuses on interviewer attributes in the non-response process. However, research regarding interviewer effects on unit nonresponse of secondary respondents, more specifically, primary respondents’ consent to include secondary respondents into the survey, is sparse. We use the German Family Panel (pairfam) and an interviewer survey conducted during the fifth wave of the panel (2012) to investigate the effects of interviewer motivation and attitudes on respondents’ consent to a survey of their parents via a separate mail questionnaire. Using multi-level models, we find a substantial interviewer effect on consent rates when not controlling for interviewer characteristics. In a second step, we include variables which capture interviewers’ work motivation and attitudes. Our results show that being motivated for the job as an interviewer by interest in the work itself as well as attitudes towards persuading respondents are both associated with interviewers’ success in obtaining respondent consent to a parent survey. However, interviewer characteristics (including motivation and attitudes) are only able to explain a small part of the interviewer effect.

Secondary Respondent Consent in the German Family Panel

To achieve high return among secondary respondents, primary respondents’ consent rates must be high. In the German Family Panel (pairfam), a large, randomly sampled panel study, primary respondents’ consent rates to surveying their parents were found to be low. Since we suspected that the underlying reason could be interviewer behavior, we tested in an experiment if placing the consent questions in the self-interview (CASI) part of the interview would increase consent rates. Results show that bypassing interviewers by asking respondents directly in the CASI section did not increase consent rates.