This review of nonresponse in cross-sectional household surveys in the United States shows trends in nonresponse rates, the main reasons for nonresponse, and changes in the components of nonresponse. It shows that nonresponse is increasing but that existing methods for modeling response mechanisms do not adequately explain these changes.
AbrahamKatharine G.MaitlandAaronBianchiSuzanne M.2006. Nonresponse in the American Time Use Survey: Who is missing from the data and how much does it matter?Public Opinion Quarterly70 (5): 676–703.
2.
AtrosticB. K.BatesNancyBurtGeraldineSilbersteinAdriana2001. Nonresponse in U.S. government household surveys: Consistent measures, recent trends, and new insights. Journal of Official Statistics17 (2): 209–26.
3.
BatesNancyDahlhamerJamesSingerElinor2008. Privacy concerns, too busy, or just not interested: Using doorstep concerns to predict survey nonresponse. Journal of Official Statistics24 (4): 591–612.
4.
BattagliaMichael P.KhareMinaFrankelMartin R.MurrayMary CayBuckleyPaulPeritzSaralyn2008. Response rates: How have they changed and where are they headed? In Advances in telephone survey methodology, eds. LepkowskiJames M.TuckerClydeBrickJ. Michaelde LeeuwEdith D.JapecLilliLavrakasPaul J.LinkMichael W.SangsterRoberta L., 529–60. New York, NY: Wiley.
5.
BrehmJohn O.1993. The phantom respondents: Opinion surveys and political representation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
6.
BrickJ. MichaelDipkoSarahPresserStanleyTuckerClydeYuanYangyang2006. Nonresponse bias in a dual frame sample of cell and landline numbers. Public Opinion Quarterly70 (5): 780–93.
7.
BrickJ. MichaelMontaquilaJillHagedornMary CollinsRothShelley BrockChapmanChristopher2005. Implications for RDD design from an incentive experiment. Journal of Official Statistics21 (4): 571–89.
8.
CallegaroMarioMcCutcheonAlan L.LudwigJack2006. Who’s calling? The impact of caller ID on telephone survey response. In Proceedings of the Survey Research Section of the American Statistical Association, 3822–24. Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association.
9.
CurtinRichardPresserStanleySingerElinor2005. Changes in telephone survey nonresponse over the past quarter century. Public Opinion Quarterly69 (1): 87–98.
10.
de HeerWim1999. International response trends: Results of an international survey. Journal of Official Statistics15 (1): 129–42.
11.
de LeeuwEdithde HeerWim2002. Trends in household survey nonresponse: A longitudinal and international comparison. In Survey nonresponse, eds. GrovesRobert M.DillmanDon A.EltingeJohn L., 41–54. New York, NY: John Wiley.
12.
DemingW. Edwards1953. On a probability mechanism to attain an economic balance between the resultant error of nonresponse and the bias of nonresponse. Journal of the American Statistical Association48 (264): 743–72.
13.
DillmanDon A.1978. Mail and telephone surveys: The total design method. New York, NY: John Wiley.
14.
DillmanDon A.GallegosGean G.FreyJames H.1976. Reducing refusal rates for telephone interviews. Public Opinion Quarterly40 (1): 66–78.
15.
DillmanDon A.SmythJolene D.ChristianLeah M.2009. Internet, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method. 3rd ed.New York, NY: John Wiley.
16.
FerberRobert1948. The problem of bias in mail returns: A solution. Public Opinion Quarterly12 (4): 669–76.
17.
GoldsteinKenneth M.JenningsM. Kent2002. The effect of advance letters on cooperation in a list sample telephone survey. Public Opinion Quarterly66 (4): 608–17.
18.
GoyderJohn1987. The silent minority: Nonrespondents on sample surveys. Boulder, CO: Westview.
19.
GrovesRobert M.2006. Nonresponse rates and nonresponse bias in household surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly70 (5): 646–75.
20.
GrovesRobert M.CialdiniRobert B.CouperMick P.1992. Understanding the decision to participate in a survey. Public Opinion Quarterly56 (4): 475–95.
21.
GrovesRobert M.CouperMick P.1998. Nonresponse in household interview surveys. New York, NY: John Wiley.
22.
GrovesRobert M.DillmanDon A.EltingeJohn L.LittleRoderick A.2002. Survey nonresponse. New York, NY: John Wiley.
23.
GrovesRobert M.SingerElinorCorningAmy2000. Leverage-saliency theory of survey participation: Description and illustration. Public Opinion Quarterly64 (3): 299–308.
24.
HansenMorris H.HurwitzWilliam N.1946. The problem of nonresponse in sample surveys. Journal of the American Statistical Association41:517–29.
25.
Harris-KojetinBrianTuckerClyde1999. Exploring the relation of economic and political conditions with refusal rates in a government survey. Journal of Official Statistics15 (2): 167–84.
26.
IngenErikStoopInekeBreedveldKoen2009. Nonresponse in the Dutch Time Use Survey: Strategies for response enhancement and bias reduction. Field Methods21 (1): 69–90.
27.
JohnsonTimothy P.O’RoukeDianeBurrisJaneOwensLinda2002. Culture and survey nonresponse. In Survey nonresponse, eds. GrovesRobert M.DillmanDon A.EltingeJohn L., 55–70. New York, NY: John Wiley.
28.
KristalAlan R.WhiteEmilyDavisJulie R.CorycellGayleRaghunathanTrivilloreKinneSusanLinTing Kwong1993. Effects of enhanced calling efforts on response rates, estimates of health behavior, and costs in a telephone health survey using random-digit dialing. Public Health Reports108 (3): 372–79.
29.
LesslerJudith T.KalsbeekWilliam D.1992. Nonsampling errors in surveys. New York, NY: John Wiley.
30.
LinkMichael W.OldendickRobert W.1999. Call screening: Is it really a problem for survey research?Public Opinion Quarterly63 (4): 577–89.
31.
LybergLars E.DeanPat1992. Methods for reducing nonresponse rates: A review. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, St. Petersburg, FL.
32.
LynnPeter2008. The problem of nonresponse. In International handbook of survey methodology, eds. de LeeuwEdith D.HoxJoop J.DillmanDon A, 35–55. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
33.
MadowWilliam G.NisselsonHaroldOlkinIgramRubinDonald B., eds. 1983. Incomplete data in sample surveys. Vols. 1–3. New York, NY: Academic Press.
34.
MessnerStevenBaumerEricRosenfieldRichard2004. Dimensions of social capital and rates of criminal homicide. American Sociological Review69 (6): 882–903.
35.
MeyersSamuel M.OliverJulia D.1978. Privacy and hostility toward government as reasons for nonresponse in the National Medical Care Expenditure Survey. In Proceedings of the Social Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association, 509–13. Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association.
36.
MouwTed2006. Estimating the causal effect of social capital: A review of recent research. Annual Review of Sociology32:79–102.
37.
NisbettRichard E.WilsonTimothy D.1977. Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review84 (3): 231–59.
38.
OldendickRobert W.LinkMichael W.1994. The answering machine generation: Who are they and what problem do they pose for survey research?Public Opinion Quarterly58 (2): 264–73.
39.
PutnamRobert D.1995. Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. Journal of Democracy6 (1): 65–78.
40.
PutnamRobert D.2000. Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
41.
SchwarzNorbertGrovesRobert M.SchumanHoward1998. Survey methods. In The handbook of social psychology, 4th edition, eds. GilbertDanielFiskeSusan T.LindzeyGardner, 143–79. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
42.
SingerElinor2006. Introduction: Nonresponse bias in household surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly70 (5): 637–45.
43.
SingerElinorPresserStanley2008. Privacy, confidentiality, and respondent burden as factors in telephone survey nonresponse. In Advances in telephone survey methodology, eds. LepkowskiJames M.TuckerClydeBrickJ. Michaelde LeeuwEdith D.JapecLilliLavrakasPaul J.LinkMichael W.SangsterRoberta L., 449–70. New York, NY: John Wiley.
44.
SingerElinorVan HoewykJohnGeblerNancyRaghunathanTrevilloreMcGonagleKatherine1999. The effect of incentives on response rates in interviewer-mediated surveys. Journal of Official Statistics15 (2): 217–30.
45.
SmithTom1995. Trends in nonresponse rates. International Journal of Public Opinion Research57 (2): 157–71.
46.
SteehCharlotte1981. Trends in nonresponse rates, 1952–1979. Public Opinion Quarterly45 (1): 40–57.
47.
SteehCharlotteKirgisNicoleCannonBrianDeWittJeff2001. Are they really as bad as they seem? Nonresponse rates at the end of the twentieth century. Journal of Official Statistics17 (2): 227–47.
48.
StoopIneke A. L.2005. The hunt for the last respondent: Nonresponse on sample surveys. The Hague: Netherlands Social and Cultural Planning Office.
49.
TourangeauRoger2004. Survey research and societal change. Annual Review of Psychology55:775–801.
50.
TourangeauRogerRipsLance J.RasinskiKenneth2000. The psychology of survey response. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
51.
TriplettTimothy2002. What is gained from additional call attempts and refusal conversion and what are the cost implications? Unpublished paper, The Urban Institute, Washington, DC. Available from http://home.comcast.net/~ttriplett13/tncpap.pdf.
52.
TuckelPeterO’NeillHarry W.1996. Screened out: New telephone technologies erect barriers to researchers, but it’s nothing personal. Marketing Research8 (1): 34–43.
53.
WeeksMichael F.KulkaRichard A.PiersonStephanie A.1987. Optimal call scheduling for a telephone survey. Public Opinion Quarterly51 (4): 540–49.
54.
WhitleyRobMcKenzieKwame2005. Social capital and psychiatry: Review of the literature. Harvard Review of Psychiatry13 (2): 71–84.