Question
What exactly does the GNR measure? I read in the NHS User Guide that it “combines household and item non-response”, but am trying to come up with an explanation that I can give to users.
Is it a measure of the number of survey questions that were completed in an area divided by the number of survey questions that were sent out to the area?
Answer
The Census Division explained that: "The global non-response rate was calculated in order to determine whether the data for a geographic area is of sufficient quality to be released as it is an important measure of the quality of NHS estimates. It combines household and item non-response, as such it reflects the risk of non-response bias. This measure was also used to decide when to disseminate counts for a given geographic area for the 2011 Census, just as it was used in the 2006 Census for the dissemination of short form counts and long form sample estimates.
In the specific case of the NHS, the global non-response rate is weighted to take account for the initial sampling and the sub-sampling prior to non-response follow-up. The global non-response rate was calculated as the ratio of two weighted estimates for a given geographic area. The numerator of the ratio is an estimate of the total number of questions for which no response were obtained over all households (i.e. respondents and non-respondents) in the given geographic area. The denominator of the ratio is an estimate of the total number of questions for which responses were expected over all households (i.e. respondents and non-respondents) in the given geographic area."
