ESRA 2025 Preliminary Program

Monday 14 July    Tuesday 15 July    Wednesday 16 July    Thursday 17 July    Friday 18 July   

All time references are in CEST

Get in touch–stay in touch: Efficient and suitable recruitment and survey strategies 3
Session Organisers	Dr Roman Auriga (Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories) Mr André Müller-Kuller (Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories) Ms Anna Passmann (Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories)
Time	Wednesday 16 July, 16:00 - 17:30
Room	Ruppert 042

This year's session will focus on appropriate and efficient recruitment and fieldwork strategies in current population-representative surveys. In both individual and institutional survey settings, recruitment of survey participants has been under "pressure to change" for several years. On the one hand, we face declining response rates in surveys. On the other hand, recruiting participants seems to have become more and more expensive over the years due to inflation, salary developments and change in employment relationships regarding the survey stuff or more complex survey requirements and designs. Social changes must also be taken into account: Due to the increasing factual and perceived heterogeneity of societies, expectations regarding the characteristics of the target persons to be recruited and the ways how to address them appropriately are also becoming increasingly complex. Suitable recruitment and survey designs must therefore be found.

In this session, we want to discuss innovations in survey designs and methods under the premise of optimizing and balancing survey success and costs. In particular, tailored recruitment strategies in terms of mixed approaches (e.g. sequential designs and/or pre-recruitment strategies), incentive strategies (e.g. pre-incentives, promised or perceived benefits of participation), contact strategies (e.g. adaptations in the language used, layout of materials, new media), but also field work strategies and interviewer tasks should/could be at focus.

We welcome contributions with insights into the recruitment of large-scale studies of the last five years. “Quantitative” findings as well as well documented “qualitative” experiences are both welcome.

Keywords: recruitment, efficiency, costs, innovation, response rates, tailored designs

Papers

Effective Prerecruitment Strategies in Face-to-Face Surveys and Their Impact on the Selection Bias

Ms Theresa Müller (infas Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH (Institute for Applied Social Sciences)) - Presenting Author
Mrs Tabea Feseker (infas Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH (Institute for Applied Social Sciences))
Mr Michael Ruland (infas Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH (Institute for Applied Social Sciences))

Face-to-face surveys are considered the "gold standard" in social research but are also associated with high costs, particularly in initial survey waves due to the high contact effort required by interviewers. This paper examines the effectiveness of prerecruitment strategies in three large-scale surveys in Germany: the 2023 refreshment sample of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP survey of refugees, a NEPS linking study, and the first wave of the DaLi study. The goal was to gain additional contact information and minimize selection bias caused by non-contact.

Each survey used different strategies to enhance response rates in the prerecruitment phase, such as prepaid incentives and personalized reminder letters at different stages of the prerecruitment phase. This paper analyzes how effective each of these strategies was and tries to give a best practice advise for future surveys.

Since prerecruitment should not increase but decrease the selection bias in face-to-face surveys, this paper also examines the effects of the prerecruitment strategies on the selection bias. For this, the socio-demographic characteristics are compared between prerecruited and non-prerecruited target persons. The aim of this analysis is to establish whether additional actions need to be taken in the face-to-face field to contact and interview non-prerecruited target persons.

Survey design features that matter: A meta-analysis using official statistics surveys of the Netherlands

Dr Jonas Klingwort (Statistics Netherlands (CBS) - Department of Research & Development) - Presenting Author
Mr Jeldrik Bakker (Statistics Netherlands (CBS) - Department of Research & Development)
Dr Vera Toepoel (Statistics Netherlands (CBS) - Department of Research & Development)

Sample surveys are important for official statistics as they provide a structured method of collecting data on various topics, enabling governments, organizations, and researchers to make informed decisions and monitor societal changes. However, response rates are declining, and understanding which factors influence response rates is crucial for improving survey participation and reducing potential nonresponse bias. This study investigates which features significantly affect response rates and how surveys can be optimized to improve participation.

We conducted a multilevel meta-analysis using Statistics Netherlands’ data from 38-person population surveys with about 1,200 independent samples. The surveys were fielded over seven years (2018–2024) with a total sample size of over 7 million people. These surveys range from one-time to recurring studies with frequencies from weekly to biennially. We used about 60 features such as respondent factors (e.g., age, gender, nationality, device use), survey design factors (e.g., year, month, mode, incentive, fieldwork period, number of contacts, topic), and questionnaire factors (e.g., duration, number of blocks, pages & questions, number of question per question type, number of introduction texts) that potentially have an effect on the response rates.

Preliminary findings suggest that the data collection mode, type of incentives, survey topic, the number of and types of questions, the device used by the respondent, and age and gender have significant effects on the response rate. Interestingly, the length of the fieldwork, the number of reminders, and the periodicity of the survey show non-significant effects.

This study offers comprehensive insights into factors affecting response rates in official statistics surveys. It highlights how effective data collection strategies should be designed and identifies survey designs to avoid. When designing surveys, the study is a practical toolbox for national statistical agencies, survey agencies, and survey researchers.

Do media reports impact survey participation? Results from a register-based self-administered survey in Germany

Dr Claudia Schmiedeberg (LMU Munich) - Presenting Author
Dr Christiane Bozoyan (LMU Munich)
Dr Jette Schröder (GESIS)

As high response rates are crucial for surveys to produce high quality data, much effort is put into maximizing response rates. In doing so, trust is a critical factor in gaining the cooperation of respondents (Dillman et al., 2014). Media coverage is thought to be an important way for a survey to
demonstrate seriousness and build trust. Accordingly, survey methods textbooks suggest accompanying fieldwork with press releases (e.g., Reuband 2019), and many surveys have followed this advice (e.g., German Sex Survey GeSiD: Matthiesen et al. 2021; German Health Update GEDA:
Lange et al., 2017).
However, to our knowledge, this presumed effect of media coverage on survey participation has not been analyzed yet. We use the delayed media coverage of the recruitment survey of the German Longitudinal Environmental Survey (GLEN), a large-scale panel survey that began in 2024 with a
recruitment survey of a gross sample of 80,000 individuals residing in Germany, to examine whether press articles published approximately one week after the start of fieldwork altered response patterns.
The GLEN project did not send out press releases prior to the fieldwork, but the largest German tabloid newspaper, ‘Bild’, became aware of the mail invitations, which included a €5 prepaid incentive. The newspaper contacted the project team and reported on the project in a rather neutral
tone on its online news channel. Subsequently, several other local newspapers also reported on the study.
We analyze the development of participation over the fielding period as well as the distribution of responses across regions and educational groups as we expect that these reports will increase participation especially (1) among respondents with lower education, who are the main target group of
"Bild", and (2) in the regions where the local newspapers are popular.

Comparison of Altruistic, Egoistic, and Scientific Appeals in the Recruitment of Politicians to a Survey Panel

Professor Lauri Rapeli (Åbo Akademi University)
Mr Kim Backström (Åbo Akademi University) - Presenting Author
Mr Marek Berg (Åbo Akademi University)

Getting people to participate in surveys is a persistent problem for all survey researchers. Unlike ordinary citizens, elected politicians are seldom the target population for survey recruitment efforts. In many countries, politicians often are not prepared to volunteer as participants in surveys, let alone panels, which leads to a lack of studies regarding their willingness to collaborate in surveys.

This study reports the findings from a rare survey recruitment experiment in which 7,397 local-level politicians from Finland were randomly assigned to groups that received by e-mail either 1) an altruistic or 2) an egoistic appeal or 3) an appeal referring to benefits for science when they were invited to participate in the Finnish Politician Panel.

While there are some statistically significant differences across appeals among sub-groups, overall, we find no differences in recruitment rates. This suggests that, at least in politician samples, the altruism-egoism framework is largely irrelevant and that for maximizing participation rates among politicians, survey researchers should look into alternative methods. However, politicians who are older, live in urban municipalities, and represent the political left are more likely than their counterparts to volunteer as panel participants.

By examining recruitment propensities and the effects of appeals, this study sheds light on representation in an understudied population. The findings provide practical insights for designing future recruitment efforts and improving response rates among politicians.