Panel Fatigue

Panel fatigue refers to the phenomenon in survey research whereby the quality of data that is gathered from a particular member of a survey panel diminishes if she or he is expected to stay in the panel for too long a duration (i.e. for too many waves) of data collection. In the extreme, panel fatigue leads to premature panel nonresponse for particular panel members prior to their [Page 570]tenure in the panel officially expiring. That is, the respondent drops out of the panel early and thereafter is a source of panel attrition. Panel fatigue also contributes to item nonresponse (i.e. missing data), to increases in satisficing as a mode of response, and to other forms of lower quality of data. Because panel fatigue does not ...