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Using Consumer Panels to Understand the Characteristics of US Jewry

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Abstract

To understand the characteristics and attitudes of the US Jewish population, researchers have increasingly relied on respondents drawn from established online consumer survey panels. In the absence of a large, nationally representative study of US Jews, online panels provide a faster and lower cost alternative to cross-sectional surveys. The present paper describes general issues associated with studies conducted with consumer panels that affect the validity and generalizability of their findings. The paper focuses on one of the largest and most often utilized probability based consumer panels, that of Knowledge Networks. The key question about the results of studies based on the Knowledge Networks panel, as well as studies based on nonprobability samples, is whether their findings represent the population. Along with considering the bias that may result from sampling designs, including the willingness to participate in consumer research, the paper also considers whether bias can be addressed by application of post-stratification weights. Analyses are reported of a survey conducted using the Knowledge Networks panel. Various alternative weighting protocols were applied. Relationships between variables appear robust regardless of survey weights, but precise estimates of the magnitude of such relationships as well as overall population proportions require current and accurate socio-demographic data about American Jews for development of weights. Although it is possible that there is systematic bias in regard to willingness to participate in a consumer panel, the availability of high quality demographic data makes a prerecruited probability sample a valuable source of information for ongoing study of the American Jewish community.

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Notes

  1. Knowledge Networks was acquired by GfK in 2011.

  2. It is permissible to ask respondents their religious identity on government surveys when a response is not required by law; the census is mandatory.

  3. Most of the surveys listed here under the IPSOS banner were conducted by Synovate, which was previously known as Market Facts. IPSOS acquired Synovate in 2011.

  4. The field report is available on the CMJS website, http://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/pdfs/NationalSurveyFieldReport.pdf.

  5. Standard AAPOR response rates, which would incorporate initial recruitment to the panel, are not available for the Knowledge Networks Panel. Instead, survey completion rate, which measures response to survey invitations, is presented here. This is functionally equivalent to AAPOR’s response rate 6, with the caveat that it focuses only on the specific-study sample (Callegaro and DiSogra 2009).

  6. A table with the unweighted regressions is available on the CMJS website, http://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/pdfs/ConsumerPanelSupplement.pdf.

  7. NJPS denominations used for JBR only, representing 83% of the Jewish population, are as follows: Orthodox, 10%; Conservative, 27%; Reconstructionist, 2%; Reform, 35%; Other, 1%; No specific, 24% (United Jewish Communities 2005).

  8. Analysis of an additional set of outcome measures is available from the CMJS website.

  9. Predicted probabilities are calculated with all independent variables held at their means, with the exception of the variable of interest (high school seder attendance in this case).

  10. Results are reported as shown as odds ratios, so values under 1 indicate a negative effect.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, MS 014, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA, 02454, USA

    Matthew Boxer, Janet Krasner Aronson & Leonard Saxe

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  1. Matthew Boxer
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  2. Janet Krasner Aronson
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  3. Leonard Saxe
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Correspondence to Matthew Boxer.

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Boxer, M., Aronson, J.K. & Saxe, L. Using Consumer Panels to Understand the Characteristics of US Jewry. Cont Jewry 33, 63–82 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-013-9097-3

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