Recent advances in probability-based and nonprobability survey research

At the turn of the decade, this special issue is a symbol of transformation in the survey world that slowly started in the 2000s and that is likely to continue into the future. At the heart of this transformation lies an age-old academic debate on the merits and costs of probability sampling methods for survey research. While a century ago, probability sampling was hailed as a way of saving costs when depicting social phenomena that were previously described by censuses only, it is becoming increasing expensive. At the same time, society is experiencing a great hunger for ever more and “bigger” data that may explain the increasingly complex world around us. A workshop on “Probability-Based and Nonprobability Survey Research” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and organized by the Collaborative Research Center “Political Economy of Reforms” (SFB 884) at the University of Mannheim in June 2018 brought together expertise on the challenges and pitfalls of probability and nonprobability sampling and planted the seed for this special issue