Peer effects and measurement error: the impact of sampling variation in school survey data

John Micklewright (), Sylke Schnepf and Pedro N. Silva ()
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Pedro N. Silva: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica and Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, University of Southampton.

No 10-13, DoQSS Working Papers from Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London

Abstract: Investigation of peer effects on achievement with sample survey data on schools may mean that only a random sample of peers is observed for each individual. This generates classical measurement error in peer variables, resulting in the estimated peer group effects in a regression model being biased towards zero under OLS model fitting. We investigate the problem using survey data for England from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) linked to administrative microdata recording information for each PISA sample member's entire year cohort. We calculate a peer group measure based on these complete data and compare its use with a variable based on peers in just the PISA sample. The estimated attenuation bias in peer effect estimates based on the PISA data alone is substantial.

Keywords: peer effects; measurement error; school surveys; sampling variation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 C81 I21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2010-06-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ecm, nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1013

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