Determinants of participation in a longitudinal survey during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of a low-infection country

Abstract

In this paper, we utilise a longitudinal sample with responses from prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to measure the factors associated with participation in longitudinal surveys during the COVID-19 period. The benefit of this sample for the analysis is that factors collected in preCOVID waves can be used to measure survey participation. This is in comparison to crosssectional or longitudinal surveys that only commenced once the pandemic had commenced. We find a number of demographic groups that are identified as being more likely to not respond to COVID-19 surveys, despite having completed pre-COVID surveys, as well as a number of other economic and personality factors. Reassuringly though, there were many more factors that did not have an association. The study also highlights that two simple questions (with a low time cost) on subjective survey experience early in the pandemic were highly useful for predicting future survey participation. These findings can help to support survey practitioners and data collection companies to develop more robust sampling strategies during the COVID-19 period.