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Results from an experiment to prevent refusals in a continuing longitudinal study

Session: Understanding nonresponse and attrition: Research from the UK Survey Design and Measurement Initiative

Authors:

Ian Plewis; Social Statistics, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Lisa Calderwood; Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom
Rebecca Taylor; National Centre for Social Research - NatCen, United Kingdom
Sosthenes Ketende; Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom

Abstract:

Strategies for converting refusals into productive cases have received some attention in a cross-sectional context but the literature on converting refusals in ongoing longitudinal studies is sparse. Refusers at wave t (t > 1) will have participated at wave one and so the reasons for refusing can be hypothesised to be circumstantial rather than being based on a deep-seated antipathy to social investigations. In this paper, we report results from a randomised experiment that tests the efficacy of two different kinds of intervention: (i) a letter to initial refusers at wave t addressing reasons for refusing based on data from earlier waves, and (ii) reissuing all refusals to a different interviewer. These treatments were crossed in a 2 × 2 design with standard fieldwork procedure as the control group. The intervention was applied in wave four of the Millennium Cohort Study, the fourth in the renowned series of UK birth cohort studies.