Does a short-term deadline extension affect participation rates of an online survey? Experimental evidence from an online panel

in International Journal of Social Research Methodology (2022)

In times of decreasing response rates and survey participation, many ‘best-practices’ have been developed for increasing survey recruitment. However, most of these have never been adequately and ... [more ▼]

In times of decreasing response rates and survey participation, many ‘best-practices’ have been developed for increasing survey recruitment. However, most of these have never been adequately and experimentally scrutinized for their efficacy. Therefore, in this research note, we draw on probability-based data of an online panel and experimentally examine whether it is possible to increase survey participation behavior by communicating a deadline extension. Overall, our results show that it is possible to influence participation behavior by deadline communication. While overall response speed was significantly faster when a deadline extension was communicated, the overall response rate was slightly lower, compared to scenarios in which no deadline extension was communicated. Thus, we refrain from recommending a deadline extension unless there are specific reasons to do so. [less ▲]