BACKGROUNDIn developed countries, response rates have dropped to such low levels that many in the population field question whether the data can provide unbiased results. OBJECTIVEThe paper uses three Japanese surveys conducted in the 2000s to ask whether low survey response rates bias results. A secondary objective is to bring results reported in the survey response literature to the attention of the demographic research community. METHODSUsing a longitudinal survey as well as paradata from a cross-sectional survey, a variety of statistical techniques (chi square, analysis of variance (ANOVA), logistic regression, ordered probit or ordinary least squares regression (OLS), as appropriate) are used to examine response-rate bias. RESULTSEvidence of response-rate bias is found for the univariate distributions of some demographic characteristics, behaviors, and attitudinal items. But when examining relationships between variables in a multivariate analysis, controlling for a variety of background variables, for most dependent variables we do not find evidence of bias from low response rates. COMMENTSThe results have two implications. First, demographers should not presume the presence or absence of low response-rate bias; rather they should test for it in the context of a specific substantive analysis. Second, demographers should lobby data gatherers to collect as much paradata as possible so that rigorous tests for low response-rate bias are possible. IntroductionSample surveys (cross-sectional and longitudinal) have become the dominant data source used by population researchers. Response rates, both the initial response rate and attrition rates in longitudinal studies, have historically been an important rough-andready yardstick to judge data quality. Response rates 6 have been declining in urbanized, high-income countries to the point where many cross-sectional surveys now have response rates below 50% (Atrostic et al. 2001;Brick and Williams 2013;de Leeuw and de Heer 2002;Groves 2011;Singer 2006). The survey literature has long recognized that low response rates only indicate potential bias (e.g., Lessler and Kalsbeck 1992), yet the almost automatic response among most in the population field has been to equate low response rates with poor data quality. Low response rates produce bias only to the extent that there are differences between responders and non-responders on the estimate(s) of interest, and then only if such differences cannot be eliminated or controlled for through the use of observable and available characteristics of responders and non-responders. The difficulty in evaluating non-response bias is that measures of the variable(s) of interest and characteristics of non-responders are generally not observed, and hence the population field has tended to rely on the presumption that low response rates necessarily mean low data quality.In this paper, using surveys designed by demographers and variables that have often been used as dependent variables in demographic research, we examine this 6 ...

Japan, unlike most Western countries, has not experienced several components of the second demographic transition, including cohabitation, widespread use of childcare centers, unmarried childbearing, and nonmarriage. Yet there is evidence that Japan is ripe for change in such family behaviors. This article examines a set of innovative questions related to knowing individuals who have engaged in these behaviors by type of relationship (sibling, other relative, friend, and coworker) respondent has to such individuals. We find that a large proportion of the Japanese population knows someone who has cohabited, used childcare, had a nonmarital birth, or plans to remain unmarried. This knowledge is patterned by both relationship domain and social structural variables. There is a strong positive association between knowing someone who has engaged in one of these behaviors and attitudes toward nontraditional family behavior, suggesting pathways by which micro-level interpersonal interactions may be linked to macro-level social change.

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OBJECTIVEThe paper examines changes in the relationship between employment and household tasks of Japanese couples, using data drawn from national cross-sectional surveys in RESULTSWives' employment is structured by their husbands' employment time and earning power, as well as by their family situations, including the presence and age of children and co-residence with parents. Housework hours of husbands, though very low, increased over time, while wives' hours decreased. Wives' housework time decreases as their employment time increases. Marriage dramatically increases women's housework time but produces little change in men's time. Husbands' housework hours are positively correlated with reported marital satisfaction of both spouses.