Survey non-response bias, power analysis, and external validity

Date: January 1, 1970

Public policy research is dependent on efficient data collection, which is often thwarted by non-respondents or a low response rate. The question then becomes about how to conduct a powerful analysis with too few data and produce meaningful, evidence-based results. Using two current Optimal Solutions Group (Optimal) projects from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that rely on data collection and analysis, one of Optimal’s statisticians, Shauna Sweet, will conduct a Brown Bag lunch presentation titled, “Power Analysis.”

Ms. Sweet holds a M.S. in survey methodology and is pursuing her doctorate in measurement, statistics, and evaluation from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her coursework includes structural equation modeling, factor analysis, diagnostic classification modeling, multivariate data analysis, applied multiple regression, and Bayesian Analysis. Ms. Sweet’s Brown Bag presentation will take place at Optimal’s headquarters in College Park, MD.