Download Swiss Household Panel User Guide (1999 - 2013)

The refusal conversion rate, calculated as the percentage of completed individual interviews of all eligible individuals who refused previously, amounts to about 45% (Lipps,
2011).
3.3.4 Contacting respondents
To avoid household drop out of the panel because of unsuccessful tracing (due to moving, changed phone numbers, household splits, etc.), several measures ensure that contact can be re-established with the respondents in later waves.
First, the participating households are informed annually by means of a newsletter enclosed with the advance letter at the start of each fieldwork phase.
In 2009, the SHP started the use of tailored leaflets designed for specific groups of
households: families with children, couples without children, people living alone, and
people of 65 years and older. The leaflets treat topics that inform targeted households
about study results that are of interest to them.
The newsletters can be viewed here:
http://forscenter.ch/en/our-surveys/swiss-household-panel/information-for-participatinghouseholds/newsletters-study-living-switzerland/
Second, respondents are asked to leave their mobile number and/or their e-mail address. If respondents are not willing to give this information or do not have a mobile
number or e-mail address, they are asked to leave the address of an auxiliary (e.g. a
family member living outside of the household or a close friend) who can help in case of
losing track of the respondent.
Third, households are called on different days of the week and on different times during
the day in order to minimize noncontact. And fourth, a bilingual interviewer responsible
for administration and tracking of the addresses is briefed on how to find relocated respondents. The following measures are taken by this interviewer in case the advance
letter is returned to sender:
 Checking whether phone number is still valid
 Contacting mobile phone, e-mail address or auxiliary
 Searching directories and the local inhabitant register
 Request the dcl data care (a service of the Swiss post mandated to seek currently valid household addresses and the corresponding phone numbers)
 If no phone number can be found, a form is sent to the address provided by
the dcl data care asking to complete contact details.
3.4 Quality control
Prior to each wave, extensive pre-tests are carried out, checking correct technical functioning of filters and new items and running different scenarios. After the training of supervisors and interviewers (for more details see 3.2), the fieldwork agency monitors the
interviewer performance during the fieldwork: supervisors listen in to the interviews,
evaluate interviewers on several criteria (e.g. accurateness and pace of reading, argumentation), document performance and give feedback to the interviewers. M.I.S. Trend
carries out the training and monitoring of interviewers in collaboration with the SHPTeam.
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