Kish grid vs birthday procedures: survey refusal rates by the type of within-household selection procedure in the European Social Survey

Abstract

Two approaches to within-household selection of target respondents dominate cross-national surveys of the general population: the Kish grid and birthday procedures. The Kish grid is a rigorous probabilistic approach expected to produce higher-quality samples. However, its requirement to construct a complete household register is intrusive and may increase refusals. Conversely, birthday procedures, which do not require a household roster, may result in fewer refusals at the cost of lower sample quality. Our paper examines the impact of within-household selection procedures on refusal rates based on a methodological inventory of 120 national surveys from nine rounds of the European Social Survey (2002–2018). Controlling for the implementation of incentives for respondents, the experience of the interviewer teams and the country’s level of economic development, we find that surveys using the Kish grid have higher refusal rates before or during the selection process compared to surveys involving birthday procedures, suggesting that the use of the Kish grid is perceived as more intrusive for household members than birthday procedures. However, we find no significant difference between the two selection procedures regarding respondent refusals and total refusals.