Nonresponse in Web Surveys: A Deeper Look into Education Bias

Abstract

"The transition to online data collection in general population surveys has accelerated in recent years. Although high-quality web surveys now achieve response rates comparable to those of telephone surveys, they frequently display greater educational bias. This study analyzes complete employment biographies of both respondents and non-respondents to address three key questions: (1) How do different stages of the online panel recruitment process contribute to educational bias? (2) Are specific subgroups within the lower-educated population underrepresented in online surveys? (3) Are there interaction effects between education and other predictors of nonresponse, such as age, nationality, or employment status? In 2023, the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Germany launched the IAB-OPAL online panel survey using a push-to-web approach. The sample was drawn from a comprehensive administrative database containing social security, unemployment insurance, and basic income records, allowing for detailed analyses of employment histories. Leveraging detailed employment histories enables a granular assessment of how educational bias emerges across recruitment stages and whether response tendencies within educational groups vary due to typically unobserved factors such as benefit receipt, occupational history, or wages. The results indicate that educational bias increases at each stage of the recruitment process. Nonresponse is particularly common among individuals with lower educational attainment, especially those aged 50 and above. Although response probabilities for foreigners and Germans without an educational degree are similar, the disparity between these groups increases by at least a factor of four among individuals with a university degree. Additionally, men are less likely to participate unless they possess advanced degrees or lack formal qualifications." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Distler, C., Coban, M. & Trappmann, M. (2026): Nonresponse in Web Surveys: A Deeper Look into Education Bias. In: Journal of survey statistics and methodology. DOI:10.1093/jssam/smag031