TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding selection bias, time-lags and measurement bias in secondary data sources
T2 - Putting the Encyclopedia of Associations database in broader context
AU - Bevan, Shaun
AU - Baumgartner, Frank R.
AU - Johnson, Erik W.
AU - McCarthy, John D.
N1 - Funding Information:
The Encyclopedia of Associations data was gathered by Frank R. Baumgartner and John McCarthy through the National Science Foundation, “Collaborative Research: Database Development for the Study of Public Policy,” Grant Number SBR 0111611. Erik Johnson and Shaun Bevan served as lead Research Assistants on the project sequentially. The Policy Agendas Project data were originally collected by Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones, with the support of National Science Foundation Grant Numbers SBR 9320922 and 0111611, and are distributed through the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Neither the NSF nor the original collectors of the data bear any responsibility for the analysis reported here.
PY - 2013/11
Y1 - 2013/11
N2 - Secondary data gathered for purposes other than research play an important role in the social sciences. A recent data release has made an important source of publicly available data on associational interests, the Encyclopedia of Associations (EA), readily accessible to scholars (www.policyagendas.org). In this paper we introduce these new data and systematically investigate issues of lag between events and subsequent reporting in the EA, as these have important but under-appreciated effects on time-series statistical models. We further analyze the accuracy and coverage of the database in numerous ways. Our study serves as a guide to potential users of this database, but we also reflect upon a number of issues that should concern all researchers who use secondary data such as newspaper records, IRS reports and FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
AB - Secondary data gathered for purposes other than research play an important role in the social sciences. A recent data release has made an important source of publicly available data on associational interests, the Encyclopedia of Associations (EA), readily accessible to scholars (www.policyagendas.org). In this paper we introduce these new data and systematically investigate issues of lag between events and subsequent reporting in the EA, as these have important but under-appreciated effects on time-series statistical models. We further analyze the accuracy and coverage of the database in numerous ways. Our study serves as a guide to potential users of this database, but we also reflect upon a number of issues that should concern all researchers who use secondary data such as newspaper records, IRS reports and FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2013.08.003
DO - 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2013.08.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 24090865
AN - SCOPUS:84884136657
SN - 0049-089X
VL - 42
SP - 1750
EP - 1764
JO - Social Science Research
JF - Social Science Research
IS - 6
ER -
