Surveys are increasingly asking respondents to complete additional data collection tasks that go beyond completing questionnaires. In previous research we have started to examine the cumulative effects of such tasks on dropout in panels. Our findings suggest each invitation to an additional task increases the probability of dropout by on average two percentage points. This suggests asking respondents to complete additional tasks might be detrimental to panel surveys. In this paper we examine (1) which types of additional tasks increase dropout from annual interviews of a household panel, and (2) which types of respondents are more likely to drop out from the panel if they are invited to additional tasks. We use data from 12 additional tasks across 16 waves of the Understanding Society Innovation Panel. This is a clustered and stratified sample of approximately 1,500 households in Great Britain with refreshment samples added about every three years. The additional tasks include data linkage consent questions, mobile app studies, bio-measures, a time-use diary, monthly surveys, and consent to send survey questions by SMS. Our analysis sample includes 6,712 sample members who completed at least one of the annual interviews. We will conduct survival analyses to determine which types of tasks increase the probability of subsequent dropout from the panel and which types of people are more likely to dropout due to additional tasks. The findings will contribute to decisions on how best to gather data on different concepts using different methods, in a way that sample members will cooperate.

Co-authors

Professor Annette Jäckle, University of Essex