Panel Study,  L. Ren, L. Li,     Q. Xu, J. Yan, Z. Qiu,  Peking University China.

Proper occupation assignment is often critical in interpreting social science and market research data.   It is a dilemma that haunts researchers around the world, one not particularly limited to China.   The challenges inherent in different modes of data entry, complicated by differences in the nuances of meaning that can be found in fine grain interpretation of occupations are a nightmare.

Here two methods of entering/interpreting the data, drawn from a Computer-Aided Personal Interviewing (CAPI) survey, were employed:  entering the data live by the interviewer and entering the data after the fact by experienced coders.   The results differed between the two methods significantly and meaningfully.   Imagine how different such results must be between respondent entered data in an online survey and interviewer entered data in a telephone interview.   It’s a frightening prospect.