International Nonresponse Trends across Countries and Years: An analysis of 36 years of Labour Force Survey data

In: Survey methods: insights from the field, S. 1-11

Abstract

Household survey nonresponse is a matter of concern in many countries. In one of the first
international trend analyses, de Leeuw and de Heer (2002) found that response rates declined
over the years, and that countries differed in response rates and nonresponse trends. Their
analyses cover longitudinal data on the Labour Force Survey from National Statistical
Institutes for the period 1980 to 1997. We added a new data set, covering the period 1998
-2015, and analysed nonresponse data over time and countries. In these analyses we
differentiated between voluntary and mandatory surveys. The trends visible in de Leeuw and
de Heer (2002) continue with possibly a small deceleration in refusal rates.