Encouraging and maintaining participation in household surveys: the case of the Swiss household panel

'The maintenance of high participation rates is a crucial issue for panel surveys. Because losses of participants do not tend to be random, high initial and continuing participation rates are the best solution to ensure accurate representation of the target population from year to year. Proper representation of a sample is important not only to facilitate the examination of various phenomena, but also to allow for the analysis of changes in people's trajectories and circumstances, and to identify the reasons for such changes. The various strategies employed by the Swiss Household Panel to counteract attrition may be categorized according to the stage in the survey process during which they were applied: (i) the first contact, (ii) the request for participation, (iii) the interview itself, or (iv) between interview waves. This paper provides an overview of the chosen strategies used at each of these stages, the theory or arguments underlying the choices of certain strategies, and evaluations of the effects of these strategies on response rates. The focus is on communication and transmission of information as a directed means to convince potential respondents about the utility and importance of their participation.' (author's abstract)