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 occur uniformly across all types of respondents, it often leads to differential panel attrition. Old adults and young adults, those with less educational attainment, and/or minorities are most likely to display panel fatigue.

The effects of panel fatigue are best countered by researchers making informed and reliable decisions about how long is “too long” for panel members to stay in a panel survey. These data quality considerations must be balanced with the cost implications of having to turn over (i.e. refresh) the panel more often than is desirable from a cost standpoint. For example, a conservative but expensive approach would be to determine when nonnegligible panel fatigue starts for the 20% or so of panel members who are the first to experience panel fatigue, and then limit all panel membership to that lower duration. Panel fatigue also can be countered by not timing waves of subsequent data collection too closely together; or by rotating random subsets of panel members in and out of data collection (e.g. every other wave, or every two of three waves).

Extra attention paid to panel members also may help counter panel fatigue. This includes friendly “staying in touch” communications from the researchers between waves of data collection that show sincere interest in the well-being of the panel members and subtly stress the importance of remaining active panel members. Use of contingent (performance-based) incentives also has been shown to be effective in reducing the negative effects of panel fatigue.