Summary
The effects are examined of two varieties of non-response bias (that due to “illness” and that due to “defensiveness”, as defined in this paper) on two-stage screening surveys for psychiatric disorder. Equations to model these effects are first derived; these are then used, in conjunction with pre-existing data, to estimate the sixe of the non-response bias. It is concluded (a) that “bias due to illness” results in prevalence estimates being some 5% lower than the true prevalence; (b) that specificity is little affected by either variety of bias; but that (c) “bias due to defensiveness” results in the sensitivity being overestimated by about 6%.
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Williams, P., Macdonald, A. The effect of non-response bias on the results of two-stage screening surveys of psychiatric disorder. Soc Psychiatry 21, 182–186 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00583998
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00583998