Why don't they answer?

Abstract

"The paper proposed focuses on the unit-nonresponse in the IAB (Institute for Employment Research) Establishment Panel, a comprehensive data set describing the employer side of the labour market in Germany. Every year since 1993 (1996) the IAB Establishment Panel has surveyed the same establishments from all branches and different size categories in western (eastern) Germany. Although great efforts are taken to convince the owner/manager to take part in the survey there are always firms that do not answer the questionnaire. In this paper the authors try to find out why some establishments are not willing or able to respond to the questionnaire. If the respondent has the authority to provide relevant information, is able to give reliable answers to the questions with a justifiable amount of effort and is interested in the survey in business terms, participation is less frequently refused. The results also confirm the central significance of the interaction between the respondent and the interviewer. If one of the two individuals changes, the probability of further participation falls clearly." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Janik, F. & Kohaut, S. (2012): Why don't they answer? Unit non-response in the IAB Establishment Panel. In: Quality & quantity, Vol. 46, No. 3, p. 917-934. DOI:10.1007/s11135-011-9436-y