Biological measurements (or biomeasures) are increasingly being collected in large longitudinal biosocial surveys, enabling researchers to exploit the advantages of social science data with objective health measures to better understand how health and social behaviour interact over time. However, not all survey respondents are willing to take part in the biomeasure component of biosocial surveys, even when the measures are administered by certified medical professionals, such as nurses. Thus, understanding factors which affect participation in biomeasure collection is essential for making valid biosocial inferences about the population. Previous research has shown that interviewer continuity can be useful for optimizing longitudinal …

Using paradata to modify design features during fieldwork is the earmark of responsive designs (Groves & Heeringa, 2006). One objective of responsive approaches is to improve the composition of the final sample by gaining the participation of nonrespondents. A simple but innovative attempt at realizing such a response intervention was undertaken during the fieldwork of PIAAC Germany 2012. Different groups of nonrespondents were identified for follow-up efforts. With a view to the outcome measures of PIAAC, basic skills of the adult population, two groups were focused: Non-nationals and sample persons with low educational attainment. To identify these groups, different sources …

Auxiliary data are becoming more important as nonresponse rates increase and new fieldwork monitoring and respondent targeting strategies develop. In many cases, auxiliary data are collected or linked to the gross sample to predict survey response. If the auxiliary data have high predictive power, the response models can meaningfully inform survey operations as well as post-survey adjustment procedures. In this paper, I examine the utility of different sources of auxiliary data (sampling frame data, interviewer observations, and micro-geographic area data) for modeling survey response in a probability-based online panel in Germany. I find that the utility of each of these …

Over the course of 2013 to 2016, over one million asylum seekers arrived in Germany, around 890,000 of them in 2015 alone. The growing refugee population posed a major challenge for Germany’s policy makers, civic administrators, and society at large, in finding new approaches to registration procedures, housing, and social and economic integration. To design policies and programs that meet these needs, government administrators, politicians, and the public require robust analyses of the accompanying social and demographic changes based on timely, valid, and reliable empirical data. Yet despite the urgent need for quantitative data on this target group, survey organizations …

Survey response rates for modern surveys using many different modes are trending downward leaving the potential for nonresponse biases in estimates derived from using only the respondents. The reasons for nonresponse may be complex functions of known auxiliary variables or unknown latent variables not measured by practitioners. The degree to which the propensity to respond is associated with survey outcomes casts light on the overall potential for nonresponse biases for estimates of means and totals. The most common method for nonresponse adjustments to compensate for the potential bias in estimates has been logistic and probit regression models. However, for more …