Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda

In November 2010 the Russell Sage Foundation commissioned the National Research Council’s Committee on National Statistics to assemble a panel of experts that would conduct a study to develop a research agenda for addressing issues related to the impact on social science data of the general decline in survey response by individuals and households. In the statement of task, the panel was asked to consider what is known about the causes and consequences of increasing rates of nonresponse, the current state of survey methodology, and methods designed to improve response for surveys in the government, academic, and private sectors. The panel was asked to identify high-priority research that can answer important unresolved questions about survey response and determine the most cost-effective ways to improve response and the quality of survey data for the advancement of knowledge in the social sciences. For the most part, the panel has limited its purview to nonresponse in household surveys, both public and private, in keeping with the charge in the statement of task. Likewise, the report focuses largely on U.S. household surveys, although research and operational experience in several international surveys is discussed where it has a bearing on general nonresponse issues commonly confronted in the conduct of household surveys regardless of venue.