What Day of the Week Would You Like to Answer Our Survey?

Maria Andreasson, B.A.Laboratory of Opinion Research (LORE)

Department of Political ScienceUniversity of Gothenburg

Overview

• Different weekdays participation rate- after 24 hours- after 6 days- after 8 days and one reminder

- after 14 days • Respondents preferred day for survey

response

Laboratory of Opinion Research (LORE)

• Web survey experiments• Panel data• Methodological evaluations

Panels

• The Citizen Panel- 57,000 opt-in- 9,000 probability

recruited

Non-commercialNo incentives

• The Panel of Politicians- 4,000 politicians on

national, regional and local level, opt-in

• The Panel of Journalists- 1,700 opt-in

Research collaborations

Open call for proposals at

lore.gu.se

Survey design

• 11,300 pre-recruited members of the Citizen Panel

• Mix of opt-in (74%) and probability sample (26%)• Randomly assigned day of the week for survey

invitation (n=1,600/day)• Survey invitation Wednesday 15th-Tuesday 21st

October 2014• A reminder sent after one week

Participation rates

- Clicking on survey link in email invitation- Excluding email bounces

Results: Participation rates after 24 hours (%)

Results: Participation rates after 6 days (%)

Results: Participation rates after 8 days (%)

Results: Participation rates after 14 days (%)

Preferred day for survey (%)

Preferred day for survey (%)

Preferred day for survey (%)

Difference of preferred day of survey if invitation same day and response within 24 hours (percentage points)

Summary

• Invitation day has significant effects on participation rates after 24 hours - Saturday worst- Early days of the week best

• No significant effects after 6 days or more

• Respondents say they prefer surveys on Mondays-Thursdays and Sundays

• Respondents more positive to receiving surveys on the day they actually receive it

• Respondents even more positive once they have tried the day, especially Saturday and Sunday

Thank you!

You can read more at

lore.gu.se