Conferences

This paper introduces the civic duty weight factor. The weight factor is the result of a procedure designed to correct self-selection of individuals with a higher sense of civic duty into survey respondent pools. The procedure weighs observations from survey respondents based on self-reported civic behaviors for which population values are known. Examples of such behaviors are voting, filing tax forms, blood donation, and registration with the authorities. Illustrations of the civic duty weight factor are given using data from various surveys on charitable giving and volunteering in the Netherlands. Unweighted estimates are found to be higher than estimates weighted by the civic duty weight factor. The factor should be used in addition to ordinary weight factors. It is concluded that the factor is a useful tool in survey research aiming to estimate the prevalence of norm-guided behaviors for which population values are unknown.