The Effects of Response Burden – Collecting Life History Data in a Self-Administered Mixed-Device Survey

Carstensen, Johann | Lang, Sebastian | Cordua, Fine

Abstract

Collecting life history data is highly demanding and therefore prone to error since respondentsmust retrieve and provide extensive complex information. Research has shown that responseburden is an important factor influencing data quality. We examine whether increases indifferent measures of response burden in a (mixed-device) online survey lead to adverseeffects on the data quality and whether these effects vary by the type of device used (mobileversus non-mobile).

We conducted an experimental study in an online mixed-device survey, for which wedeveloped a questionnaire on the educational and occupational trajectories of secondary-school graduates, undergraduates, and university graduates. To address our research question,we randomly assigned different levels of response burden to the participants and compareddifferent measures on the data quality and response.

We found mixed evidence for unfavourable effects of response burden on the examinedoutcomes. While some of our results were expected, they were not consistent across allsubgroups. Most interestingly, the effects of response burden on outcomes seemed to differbased on the device used. Hence, we conclude that further research is needed to optimise thecollection of complex data from different groups of participants.

You can find the published version of this paper here. It is part of a "Special Issue on Respondent Burden" of the "Journal of Official Statistics" edited by Robin L. Kaplan, Jessica Holzberg, Stephanie Eckman and
Deirdre Giesen.