Estimates of volunteering in the United States vary greatly from survey to survey and do not show the decline over time common to other measures of social capital. We argue that these anomalies are caused by the social processes that determine survey participation, in particular the propensity...

Estimates of volunteering in the United States vary greatly from survey to survey and do not show the decline over time common to other measures of social capital. We argue that these anomalies are caused by the social processes that determine survey participation, in particular the propensity...

Surveys supply us with the statistical data for economic and administrative decisions. Errors in survey research may lead to wrong and costly decisions. For a better control of the quality of research, methodological standards and validity criteria should be communicated more clearly. In this...