IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/somere/v52y2023i2p909-932.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Early and Late Participation during the Field Period: Response Timing in a Mixed-Mode Probability-Based Panel Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias Gummer
  • Bella Struminskaya

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, 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Gummer & Bella Struminskaya, 2023. "Early and Late Participation during the Field Period: Response Timing in a Mixed-Mode Probability-Based Panel Survey," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 52(2), pages 909-932, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:52:y:2023:i:2:p:909-932
    DOI: 10.1177/0049124120914921
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0049124120914921
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0049124120914921?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vidal Rada, 2005. "The Effect of Follow-up Mailings on The Response Rate and Response Quality in Mail Surveys," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Jamie C. Moore & Gabriele B. Durrant & Peter W. F. Smith, 2018. "Data set representativeness during data collection in three UK social surveys: generalizability and the effects of auxiliary covariate choice," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 181(1), pages 229-248, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roberts Caroline & Vandenplas Caroline & Herzing Jessica M.E., 2020. "A Validation of R-Indicators as a Measure of the Risk of Bias using Data from a Nonresponse Follow-Up Survey," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 36(3), pages 675-701, September.
    2. Patrick Gleiser & Joseph W. Sakshaug & Marieke Volkert & Peter Ellguth & Susanne Kohaut & Iris Möller, 2022. "Introducing Web in a mixed‐mode establishment survey: Effects on nonresponse," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(3), pages 891-915, July.
    3. van Berkel Kees & van der Doef Suzanne & Schouten Barry, 2020. "Implementing Adaptive Survey Design with an Application to the Dutch Health Survey," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 36(3), pages 609-629, September.
    4. M. Rueda & S. González & A. Arcos, 2007. "A Predictive Estimator of the Mean with Missing Data," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 201-217, April.
    5. Dan Hedlin, 2020. "Is there a 'safe area' where the nonresponse rate has only a modest effect on bias despite non‐ignorable nonresponse?," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 88(3), pages 642-657, December.
    6. Olga Maslovskaya & Peter Lugtig, 2022. "Representativeness in six waves of CROss‐National Online Survey (CRONOS) panel," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(3), pages 851-871, July.
    7. Jamie C. Moore & Gabriele B. Durrant & Peter W. F. Smith, 2021. "Do coefficients of variation of response propensities approximate non‐response biases during survey data collection?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 184(1), pages 301-323, January.
    8. Wu Shiya & Schouten Barry & Meijers Ralph & Moerbeek Mirjam, 2022. "Data Collection Expert Prior Elicitation in Survey Design: Two Case Studies," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 38(2), pages 637-662, June.
    9. Francisco Muñoz-Leiva & Juan Sánchez-Fernández & Francisco Montoro-Ríos & José Ibáñez-Zapata, 2010. "Improving the response rate and quality in Web-based surveys through the personalization and frequency of reminder mailings," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 1037-1052, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:52:y:2023:i:2:p:909-932. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.