Replication data for: Looking Beyond Demographics: Panel Attrition in the ANES and GSS

Longitudinal or panel surveys offer unique benefits for social science research, but they typically suffer from attrition, which reduces sample size and can result in biased inferences. Previous research tends to focus on the demographic predictors of attrition, conceptualizing attrition propensity as a stable, individual- level characteristic—some individuals (e.g., young, poor, residentially mobile) are more likely to drop out of a study than others. We argue that panel attrition reflects both the characteristics of the individual respondent as well as her survey experience, a factor shaped by the design and implementation features of the study. In this paper, we examine and compare the predictors of panel attrition in the 2008-2009 American National Election Study, an on- line panel, and the 2006-2010 General Social Survey, a face-to-face panel. In both cases, survey experience variables are predictive of panel attrition above and beyond the standard demographic predictors, but the particular measures of relevance differ across the two surveys. The findings inform statistical corrections for panel attrition bias and provide study design insights for future panel data collections.纵向追踪调查（Longitudinal Survey）或固定面板调查（Panel Survey）为社会科学研究带来了独特优势，但此类调查普遍存在失访（attrition）问题：失访不仅会缩减样本量，还可能引发推论偏倚。既往研究多聚焦于失访的人口学预测因素，将失访倾向视为一种稳定的个体层面特征——部分群体（如年轻群体、低收入者、频繁迁居者）相较于其他人更易退出研究。本研究认为，固定面板调查的失访情况同时取决于受访者个体特征与受访体验，而受访体验由研究的设计与实施特征所塑造。本文以2008-2009年美国全国选举研究（American National Election Study）——一项线上固定面板调查——以及2006-2010年综合社会调查（General Social Survey）——一项面对面固定面板调查——为研究对象，考察并对比了二者的面板失访预测因素。两项调查均显示，受访体验变量对面板失访的预测效力超出了标准人口学预测因素，但二者关联的具体衡量指标存在差异。本研究结果可为面板失访偏倚的统计校正提供参考，同时为未来固定面板调查的数据收集设计提供启示。