Does survey experience affect respondents’ reported level of satisfaction?

Web surveys are becoming an indispensable tool for quantitative researchers, and online survey panels have proliferated in recent years. However, little research has addressed the challenges of using online panels, namely the potential effects of respondents’ survey experience, also known as panel conditioning. This paper is based on a study of Danish parents’ day care arrangements and their associated level of satisfaction. A survey was conducted through an online panel and included measurements of past survey participation. Through tests of independence on key variables and the application of various ordered logit models, we find no significant evidence that survey experience affects respondents’ reported level of satisfaction. These results persist when testing the potential interaction between survey experience and experiences with day care services. Furthermore, we relate our results to the existing literature and discuss the possibility of different effects cancelling each other out. This leads us to recommendations on the use of online panels and suggestions for elaboration in future research. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013