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International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science pp 984–987Cite as

Nonresponse in Web Surveys

As in other types of surveys, we can distinguish between unit nonresponse,where the expected (invited) eligible units do not participate in the survey, anditem nonresponse, where the units participate, but certain responses are missingto some questions.

In addition, due to the availability of paradata – i.e., data from the process of answering a Web survey questionnaire that are stored in the log files together with the responses (Couper 2005) – a variety of additional nonresponse measures and patterns may be detected in Web surveys (Bosnjak 2000). In particular, partial nonresponse, where respondents answer only part of the questionnaire and then drop out is an issue requiring further discussion.

Here we predominantly focus on unit and partial nonresponse, while leaving the item nonresponse aside because it is not so much a problem of participation in Web surveys, but is more a problem related to Web questionnaire design issues, which is not our focus here.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Katja Lozar Manfreda, Nejc Berzelak & Vasja Vehovar

Authors
  1. Katja Lozar Manfreda
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  2. Nejc Berzelak
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  3. Vasja Vehovar
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac, City of Kragujevac, Serbia

    Miodrag Lovric

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Manfreda, K.L., Berzelak, N., Vehovar, V. (2011). Nonresponse in Web Surveys. In: Lovric, M. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04898-2_43

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