Early and Late Participation during the Field Period: Response Timing in a Mixed-Mode Probability-Based Panel Survey
Gummer, Tobias; Struminskaya, B.
(2023) Sociological Methods and Research, volume 52, issue 2, pp. 909 - 932
(Article)
Abstract
Reluctance of respondents to participate in surveys has long drawn the attention of survey researchers. Yet, little is known about what drives a respondent’s decision to answer the survey invitation early or late during the field period. Moreover, we still lack evidence on response timing in longitudinal surveys. That is,
... read more
the questions on whether response timing is a rather stable respondent characteristic and what—if anything—affects change in response timing across different interviews remain open. We relied on data from a mixed-mode general population panel survey collected between 2014 and 2016 to study the stability of response timing across 18 panel waves and factors that influence the decision to participate early or late in the field period. Our results suggest that the factors which had effects on response timing are different in the mail and web modes. Moreover, we found that experience with prior panel waves affected the respondent’s decision to participate early or late. Overall, the present study advocates understanding response timing as a metric variable and, consequently, the need to reflect this in modeling strategies.
show less
Download/Full Text
Keywords: field period, mixed-mode, panel surveys, participation, reluctant respondents, response timing, Taverne, Social Sciences (miscellaneous), Sociology and Political Science
ISSN: 0049-1241
Publisher: SAGE Publications Inc.
Note: Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. This paper uses data from SHARE Waves 8 and 9 (DOIs: 10.6103/SHARE.w8.800, 10.6103/SHARE.w8ca.800, 10.6103/SHARE. w9ca800),see Börsch-Supan et al.(2013) for methodological details.The SHARE data collection has been funded by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation through FP5 (QLK6-CT-2001-00360), FP6 (SHARE-I3: RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE: CIT5-CT-2005-028857, SHARELIFE: CIT4-CT-2006-028812), FP7 (SHARE-PREP: GA N°211909, SHARE-LEAP: GA N°227822, SHARE M4: GA N°261982, DASISH: GA N°283646), and Horizon 2020 (SHARE-DEV3: GA N°676536, SHARE-COHESION: GA N°870628, SERISS: GA N°654221, SSHOC: GA N°823782, SHARE-COVID19: GA N°101015924) and by DG Employment,Social Affairs & Inclusion through VS 2015/0195,VS 2016/0135, VS 2018/0285, VS 2019/0332, and VS 2020/0313. Additional funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, the US National Institute on Aging (U01_AG09740-13S2, P01_AG005842, P01_AG08291, P30_AG12815, R21_AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG_BSR06-11, OGHA_04-064, HHSN271201300071C, and RAG052527A), and various national funding sources is gratefully acknowledged (www.share-project.org). Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.
(Peer reviewed)