Survey participation in the time of Corona. An empirical analysis of an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on survey participation in a Swiss panel study

Abstract

The singular effect of a public shutdown – as a result of non-pharmaceutical official orders and arrangements in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic – on survey participation in a panel study carried out in German-speaking cantons of Switzerland is investigated. In this panel context, it is possible to analyse this impact on the response of juveniles born around 1997 by paradata on the timing of the participation in an online survey. Based on these longitudinal data collected in an event-oriented design, competing time-varying effects on survey participation and changes in the pandemic progress are controlled for, in addition to time-constant covariates such as panellists’ individual and social resources. By comparison with the previous panel wave, which took place in the same month two years ago, as well as by dynamic event history analysis within the current field period of the online survey, it becomes obvious that the public shutdown and its related consequences on panellists’ everyday life have improved the propensity of target persons for survey participation during the time interval of public shutdown. This is indeed the case in terms of the timing and the level of response.