Disposition Codes

Disposition codes are a means for classifying survey response and non-response, devised as an attempt to understand why a respondent did or did not complete a survey.

Contents

  1. Disposition Codes
    1. AAPOR Standard
    2. Web Surveys in Practice
    3. Paper Surveys in Practice
      1. Completion
      2. Consent
      3. Eligibility
      4. Panel Quotas

AAPOR Standard

The rough rubric for disposition codes are:

  1. Eligible Respondent
  2. Eligible Non-Respondent
  3. Unknown Eligibility
  4. Ineligible

Web Surveys in Practice

The common codes for web surveys are:

Code

Explanation

1.1

Complete

1.2

Partial with sufficient information (< NN% unanswered)

2.111

Explicit Refusal

2.112

Implicit Refusal

2.12

Partial with insufficient information (> NN% unanswered)

2.3

Data quality issues

3.112

Logged on to survey, did not complete any items

4.11

Screened Out of Sample - Reason #1

4.12

Screened Out of Sample - Reason #2

4.8

Quota Filled

If there is only one way to screen out, 4.11 may be recoded to 4.1. If there is no explicit refusal, 2.112 may be recoded to 2.11.

The difference between treating low-quality data as an eligible non-respondent or ineligible is murky at best.

Paper Surveys in Practice

Paper surveys are in many ways simpler. Responses are generally higher quality. Whereas web interviews are often shown interactively, paper questionnaire are seen entirely and at once. Questions cannot be conditionally skipped on a paper questionnaire.

Completion

In a basic survey, use codes 1.1 and 2.112. 

if (COMP_01 eq 1) DISPO=1.1.
if (COMP_01 eq 0) DISPO=2.112.

where COMP_01 indicates completion of any single question.

If a survey requires NN% completion, use codes 1.1, 1.2, and 2.12. 

if (STATUS eq COMPLETE and COMP_NN eq 1) DISPO=1.1.
if (STATUS ne COMPLETE and COMP_NN eq 1) DISPO=1.2.
if (COMP_NN eq 0) DISPO=2.12.

where...

If a survey requires consent, use codes 1.1, 2.111, and 2.112. 

if (COMP_01 eq 1) DISPO=1.1.
if (CONSENT ne 1) DISPO=2.111.
if (COMP_01 eq 0) DISPO=2.112.

where CONSENT is the consent question.

If a survey requires consent and NN% completion, use codes 1.1, 1.2, 2.111, 2.112, and 2.12. 

if (STATUS eq COMPLETE and COMP_NN eq 1) DISPO=1.1.
if (STATUS ne COMPLETE and COMP_NN eq 1) DISPO=1.2.
if (COMP_NN eq 0) DISPO=2.12.
if (CONSENT ne 1) DISPO=2.111.
if (COMP_01 eq 0) DISPO=2.112.

Eligibility

If a survey requires some conditions to be met, use codes 1.1, 3.112, and 4.11 (and so on). 

if (COMP_01 eq 1) DISPO=1.1.
if (COMP_01 eq 0) DISPO=3.112.
if (STATUS eq TERMINATE and CONDITION_1 eq 0) DISPO=4.11.

where...

If a survey requires some conditions to be met as well as requiring consent, use codes 1.1, 2.111, 3.112, and 4.11. 

if (COMP_01 eq 1) DISPO=1.1.
if (CONSENT ne 1) DISPO=2.111.
if (COMP_01 eq 0) DISPO=3.112.
if (STATUS eq TERMINATE and CONDITION_1 eq 0) DISPO=4.11.

If a survey requires some conditions to be met as well as NN% completion, use codes 1.1, 1.2, 2.12, 3.112, and 4.11. 

if (STATUS eq COMPLETE and COMP_NN eq 1) DISPO=1.1.
if (STATUS ne COMPLETE and COMP_NN eq 1) DISPO=1.2.
if (COMP_NN eq 0) DISPO=2.12.
if (COMP_01 eq 0) DISPO=3.112.
if (STATUS eq TERMINATE and CONDITION_1 eq 0) DISPO=4.11.

If a survey requires some conditions to be met, consent, and NN% completion, use codes 1.1, 1.2, 2.111, 2.12, 3.112, and 4.11. 

if (STATUS eq COMPLETE and COMP_NN eq 1) DISPO=1.1.
if (STATUS ne COMPLETE and COMP_NN eq 1) DISPO=1.2.
if (COMP_NN eq 0) DISPO=2.12.
if (CONSENT ne 1) DISPO=2.111.
if (COMP_01 eq 0) DISPO=3.112.
if (STATUS eq TERMINATE and CONDITION_1 eq 0) DISPO=4.11.

Panel Quotas

If a panel survey has quotas, add code 4.8. 

if (STATUS eq OVERQUOTA) DISPO=4.8.

where OVERQUOTA means that the respondent does not have access to the web survey resulting from a closed quota.

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