MINIMIZING PARTICIPANT ATTRITION IN PANEL STUDIES THROUGH THE USE OF EFFECTIVE RETENTION AND TRACKING STRATEGIES - REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Participant attrition poses a significant threat to the internal and e xternal validity of panel studies, in part because participants who su ccessfully complete all follow-up measurements often differ in signifi cant ways from those respondents lost to attrition. The only certain s afeguard against potential biases resulting fr om attrition is to ensu re high interview completion rates during follow-up. Unfortunately, in formation about reducing preventable attrition is not discussed in mos t research reports and a comprehensive review paper has not yet been p ublished. The purpose of the present paper is to provide a brief over view of how attrition can threaten the validity of panel studies and t o discuss eight promising methods of minimizing attrition through the use of effective retention and tracking strategies. Attempts to reduce attrition are not always met with complete success, therefore, a brie f discussion of statistical techniques to assess and correct for poten tial attrition biases is provided Finally, methods of calculating attr ition rates are suggested along with recommendations for future resear ch. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd