Survey researchers are increasingly turning to multimode data collection to deal with declines in survey response rates and increasing costs. An efficient approach offers the less costly modes (e.g., web) followed with a more expensive mode for a subsample of the units (e.g., households) within each primary sampling unit (PSU). We present two alternatives to this traditional design. One alternative subsamples PSUs rather than units to constrain costs. The second is a hybrid design that includes a clustered (two-stage) sample and an independent, unclustered sample. Using a simulation, we demonstrate the hybrid design has considerable advantages.

翻译：调查研究人员越来越多地采用多模式数据收集方法，以应对调查响应率下降与成本上升的挑战。一种有效的方法是先采用成本较低的模式（例如网络调查），再对每个初级抽样单元（PSU）内的单位（如家庭）子样本进行成本较高的模式调查。我们针对这一传统设计提出了两种替代方案：其一通过子抽样PSU而非单位来约束成本，其二为混合设计——包含整群（两阶段）样本与独立非整群样本。模拟研究表明，混合设计具有显著优势。