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Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, second unified edition, English volume

Proportion of refusals

Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, second unified edition, English vol.
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Proportion of refusals  (PROPORTION of refusals)


Censuses are usually compulsory 1, i.e. respondents (204-1) are under a legal obligation to provide the required information; in this respect they are different from voluntary inquiries 2 (cf. 203-4), where the problem of non-response 3 may become important. This is particularly the case in postal inquiries (203-7), where it is often necessary to follow-up 4 the first questionnaire by a second, or sometimes by a visit. Non-respondents 5 are frequently divided into those who refuse 6, i.e. who are unwilling to cooperate in the inquiry, and those who could not be found by the interviewer (204-2). The latter are counted as absentees 7 or no contacts 7. The replacement of an unusable sample unit with another unit is referred to as substitution 8. The proportion of refusals 9 in response to a given question is a useful index of the reactions of the respondents.

  • 6. Refuse, v. - refusal, n.
  • 7. Absentee, n. - absent, v. - absence, n.

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