Measurement invariance and quality of composite scores in a face-to-face and a web survey

Abstract

Measurement equivalence is a pre-requisite to be able to make comparisons across groups. In this paper we are interested in testing measurement equivalence across respondents answering surveys done using different modes of data collection. Indeed, different modes of data collection have specific characteristics that may create measurement non-equivalence across modes. If this is so, data collected in different modes cannot be compared. This would be problematic since, in order to respond to new challenges, like costs and time pressure, more and more often researchers choose to use different modes to collect their data across time, across surveys, and across countries. Studying data about trust and attitudes towards immigration, this paper shows that measurement equivalence holds across a face-to-face and a web survey done in the Netherlands (2008-2009). Moreover, the quality estimates of the Composite Scores are quite high and pretty similar in the two surveys for the four concepts considered.