Volume 54 - Article 42 | Pages 1375–1412  

Click, collect, compare: Evaluating a nonprobability web survey for family demography

By Leonie Diffené, Thomas Leopold, Zafer Buyukkececi, Marcel Raab

Abstract

Background: High-quality population data are expensive to collect and limited in substantive scope, constraining timely and innovative research.

Objective: We evaluate nonprobability data from the KINMATRIX survey by comparing it with external data on kinship structure and relationships to kin.

Methods: KINMATRIX is a web-based quota survey of over 12,000 younger adults (aged 25–35) in 9 European countries and the United States. Respondents reported egocentric kinship networks, yielding more than 250,000 ego–kin dyads. We compare indicators in three domains – family network size (number of living kin), family relationships (emotional closeness, geographical distance, coresidence, and contact frequency), and family complexity (parental separation and number of half-siblings) – with estimates from probability-based surveys, demographic projections based on official vital statistics, and national registers.

Results: KINMATRIX estimates of family network size tend to be lower than demographic projections based on official data, with smaller gaps for aunts and uncles and larger gaps for siblings and cousins. Cross-national differences in the number of parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins are broadly consistent across data sources, whereas patterns differ for grandparents. Regarding family relationships, the correspondence between KINMATRIX and probability surveys varies across indicators, but established north–south contrasts are generally preserved. Regarding family complexity, KINMATRIX yields lower rates of parental separation than probability-based data, but it broadly captures cross-national differences.

Contribution: Our comparisons point to nonprobability data having both promise and pitfalls in family demography, highlighting the need for study-specific benchmarking and targeted validation.

Author’s Affiliation

• Leonie Diffené - Universität zu Köln, Germany EMAIL
• Thomas Leopold - Universität zu Köln, Germany EMAIL
• Zafer Buyukkececi - Max-Planck-Institut für Demografische Forschung, Germany EMAIL
• Marcel Raab - Universität Bamberg, Germany EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

KINMATRIX: A new data resource for studies of families and kinship
Volume 51 - Article 25

A parallel kinship universe? A replication of Kolk et al. (2023) with Dutch register data on kinship networks
Volume 52 - Article 28

Pathways to death: The co-occurrence of physical and mental health in the last years of life
Volume 38 - Article 53

Who becomes a grandparent – and when? Educational differences in the chances and timing of grandparenthood
Volume 37 - Article 29

Similar articles in Demographic Research

Using online genealogical data for demographic research: An empirical examination of the FamiLinx database
Volume 51 - Article 41    | Keywords: completeness, data quality, digital data, FamiLinx, genealogies, kinship network

How does the demographic transition affect kinship networks?
Volume 48 - Article 32    | Keywords: demographic transition, demographically dense ages, kinship network, net reproductive rate, time-invariant model

Better to ask online when it concerns intimate relationships? Survey mode differences in the assessment of relationship quality
Volume 48 - Article 22    | Keywords: data collection, Generations and Gender Programme (GGP), interviews, intimate relationship, quality of a statistical survey, relationships, research methods, survey data

Knowledge, risk perceptions, and behaviors related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi
Volume 44 - Article 20    | Keywords: adult health, behavioral change, COVID-19, Malawi, risk perception, rural/urban differentials, survey data

Improving age measurement in low- and middle-income countries through computer vision: A test in Senegal
Volume 40 - Article 9    | Keywords: age, age measurement, age misreporting, census, Senegal, survey data