RDD panel attrition in two local area surveys - ARCHIVED

This paper compares the magnitude and nature of attrition in two separate RDD panel surveys conducted in the City of Chicago (i.e. the surveys were independent studies and were not conducted as part of a planned experiment), each with a between-wave lag of approximately one year. For each survey, sampling at Wave 1 was performed via one-stage (i.e. simple) random-digit dialing. In Study 1, respondents’ names were not elicited; thus, when telephone calls were made at Wave 2 of Study 1 interviewers could not ask for respondents by name. Instead, interviewers asked for respondents by using a gender-age identifier. In Study 2, respondent name identifiers were gathered during Wave 1 and were used in Wave 2 re-contact attempts. The magnitude of the attrition in Study 1 (i.e. the proportion of Wave 1 respondents not re-interviewed at Wave 2) was 47%, whereas in Study 2 it was 43%: a marginal difference in attrition rates. In both surveys, age, race, education and income were significantly related to attrition. Discussion is presented on the trade-off between minimizing attrition vs. minimizing respondent reactivity as potential sources of total survey error. Suggestions for decreasing the size of attrition in RDD panel surveys are discussed.