Declining response rates are a well-known challenge in all survey-related fields. Especially for longitudinal studies, nonresponse or attrition accumulates over waves and could harm the panel dimension of the data. This project investigates panel cooperation in SHARE. Our outcome of interest is panel cooperation in the fourth wave, conditional on participating in the previous wave. Computerized survey tools allow researchers to collect additional information about the survey process. This additional information is usually called paradata. We focus on the contribution of paradata, related to fieldwork strategies, features of the (current) interviewer and variables describing respondents’ prior interview experience.
Using a multilevel approach, we find that factors at all three levels (survey agency, interviewer and respondent) influence cooperation. At the highest level, we highlight the importance of everyday communication between survey agency coordinators and interviewers to gain cooperation. At the interviewer level we find that interviewers’ quality of work and experience significantly affect cooperation propensity. And furthermore, respondents’ prior interview experience and the interviewer-respondent interaction have a large influence on the cooperation decision overall. Knowing more about the underlying processes leading to non-cooperation can support fieldwork strategy decisions.
This project is conducted in cooperation with Martina Celidoni (University of Padua), Chiara Dal Bianco (University of Venice) and Guglielmo Weber (University of Padua).
