Conferences

Given two methodologically similar surveys, a question not asked in one survey could be seen as a special case of the missing data problem. Hence, the transfer of data across data sets, or ‘statistical matching’, could be achieved applying the procedures for Bayesian multiple imputation of missing values.
This paper presents a model for transferring data between different datasets based on multiple imputation (MI) approach. The first part of the paper demonstrates the application of the MI procedure, and outlines its main characteristics by comparing the imputed and actual respondents’ responses. The second part of the paper presents a substantive research example focused on the moderating influence of group identification onto the relationship between authoritarianism and ethnocentric attitudes. The exercises are based on the integrated analysis of two Dutch studies: Social and Cultural Developments in The Netherlands (SOCON 2000) and the Dutch Election Study (NKO 2002). The results show that statistical matching based on MI principles can be a useful research tool. The entire enterprise is finally interpreted in the sense of taking the ‘previous research’ into account seriously.

Key words: statistical matching, multiple imputation, Dutch Election Study