This text explains the purpose and methodology of the National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) developed by the Pew research Center. Here’s a breakdown of the key points:
What is NPORS?
A Reference Survey: NPORS is a survey conducted by Pew research Center that serves as a benchmark for their other surveys, particularly the American Trends Panel (ATP).
Timeliness: Unlike other major public opinion surveys that release data with significant delays, NPORS is designed to be timely, with its data collection synchronized with the ATP. This allows for more up-to-date weighting.
Controlled Timing: Pew controls the timing of both NPORS and the ATP, enabling them to align data collection points.
Why is NPORS Important for Pew Research center?
weighting the ATP: Researchers use NPORS estimates to weight each wave of the ATP. this means they adjust the ATP data to ensure that demographic groups (like Republicans, Democrats, religious and non-religious adults) are represented in the ATP sample in proportion to their actual share of the U.S. population.
Calibrating to Benchmarks: The ATP’s weighting protocol also uses other benchmarks,such as data from the American Community Survey (ACS) for demographics and the Current Population Survey (CPS) for voter registration and volunteerism.
Addressing the “Attitude” of Political Party Affiliation:
The Challenge: Political party affiliation is an attitude, not a fixed characteristic. This raises a question about how Pew can weight on it without forcing the partisan distribution of their polls to match a specific benchmark.
Pew’s Solution (Implemented in 2021):
Synchronized Measurement: NPORS and the ATP measure political party affiliation at approximately the same time each year.
Appending past Data: For a given ATP survey (e.g., in December), researchers append the panelists’ party affiliation data collected at an earlier, synchronized point in time (e.g., the previous spring) to that December survey.
Weighting to NPORS: This appended party affiliation data is then weighted to the NPORS estimates for the partisan distribution of U.S. adults during that earlier spring timeframe.
reducing Bias: This process helps reduce “differential partisan nonresponse bias” – the bias that occurs if,for example,Democrats are more or less likely to respond to a survey than Republicans.
Allowing for Change: Crucially, if the ATP survey also collects a fresh measurement of party affiliation at the time of the survey (e.g., in December), these new answers are not forced to match any target. This allows the partisan distribution in the current survey to vary naturally, reflecting actual changes in attitudes over time, while still addressing the nonresponse bias.
NPORS Design and the ATP:
Fresh Samples: NPORS uses a fresh, random sample of U.S. adults,meaning respondents are not part of a survey panel. This captures individuals who might not be willing to join a panel.
Recruitment Tool: In some years, NPORS also serves as a recruitment survey for the ATP. Respondents are asked if they’d be willing to take future surveys, and those who consent are invited to join the ATP.
Accessibility:
* Open to Others: The text indicates that other survey researchers can use NPORS, suggesting it’s a resource available to the broader research community.
In essence,NPORS is a strategic tool for Pew Research Center to ensure the accuracy and representativeness of their American Trends Panel surveys by providing timely and synchronized benchmark data,particularly for complex measures like political party affiliation.
