Targeting the Politically Disengaged: Comparing Response-Enhancement Strategies in Fixed and Adaptive Survey Designs to Reduce Attrition Bias in Panel Surveys

Differences in response propensities between politically engaged and disengaged panelists progressively bias estimates of political variables in political and social science panel surveys. In this article, I examine whether response-enhancement strategies (i.e., short questionnaire, interesting questionnaire, or additional monetary incentive) implemented in fixed or adaptive survey designs can mitigate these differences and, in turn, the resulting bias. I combine a survey experiment fielded in a probability-based panel survey with an ex-post data simulation. Targeting politically disengaged panelists with a questionnaire including a non-political question module reduces the difference in response propensities to an extent comparable to offering an additional monetary incentive to each panelist, and is the only strategy to reduce attrition bias consistently. Shortening the political questionnaire did not consistently reduce differences in response propensities or attrition bias in either design. These findings can guide the selection of response-enhancement strategies in political and social science panel surveys.

MaRCS is a seminar series jointly organized by the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), the University of Mannheim School of Social Sciences, and GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.