The Interaction between Item, Questionnaire and Unit Nonresponse in the German SOEP

This study investigates respondents’ behavior on financial items with respect to item nonresponse, questionnaire nonresponse, and panel attrition. We define questionnaire nonresponse as a new category of respondents’ behavior. Using financial items from the household questionnaires of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we test whether item nonresponse is positively correlated with questionnaire and unit nonresponse, and if questionnaire nonresponse is a predictor for subsequent panel attrition. Second, we test whether these two nonresponse mechanisms may affect studies on item nonresponse due to endogenous sample selection. In contrast to other studies, we find no evidence for the existence of a cooperation continuum but for a reverse type thereof.