New Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology Article

Can Appended Auxiliary Data be Used to Tailor the Offered Response Mode in Cross-Sectional Studies? Evidence from An Address-Based Sample

Michael T (Mickey) Jackson of SSRS and Rebecca L Medway and Mahi W Megra of AIR

In theory, offering each sample member the mode sequence that maximizes their response propensity should increase the response rate and/or reduce the amount of nonresponse follow-up relative to a design that offers all sample members the same mode sequence. However, for this sort of tailoring to be feasible in a cross-sectional survey, it must be possible to use data available prior to data collection (e.g., on the sampling frame) to predict sample members’ “mode-sensitivity”—the effect of the offered mode sequence on response propensity.