Calibrated propensity score method for survey nonresponse in cluster sampling

Abstract

Weighting adjustment is commonly used in survey sampling to correct for unit nonresponse. In cluster sampling, the missingness indicators are often correlated within clusters and the response mechanism is subject to cluster-specific nonignorable missingness. Based on a parametric working model for the response mechanism that incorporates cluster-specific nonignorable missingness, we propose a method of weighting adjustment. We provide a consistent estimator of the mean or totals in cases where the study variable follows a generalized linear mixed-effects model. The proposed method is robust in the sense that the consistency of the estimator does not require correct specification of the functional forms of the response and outcome models. A consistent variance estimator based on Taylor linearization is also proposed. Numerical results, including a simulation and a real-data application, are presented.