Nonresponse-Bias-Analysis

Nonresponse bias can always arise when participants in a survey systematically differ from non-participants. This can be the case, for example, if certain social groups more often do not receive the invitation to participate/ cannot be contacted, more often decide not to participate or are unable to participate (e.g. because they lack the technical equipment necessary to participate). If the reasons for non-participation are associated with the target variables of the survey, it is not possible to reliably infer the population from the responses. The non-response bias analysis offers a method to assess the bias caused by non-response.

We advise on the possibilities of non-response bias analysis and give recommendations for the type of analysis for a specific question. We distinguish between measures of nonresponse bias at the level of individual survey questions (e.g. benchmark comparisons and subgroup analysis) and measures at the survey level (e.g. R-indicators).  We give recommendations for dealing with non-response bias and show possible limitations of analysing surveys under non-response bias. We also discuss the possibility of correcting for non-response bias.