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Handling attrition in longitudinal studies: The case for refreshment samples

Publication ,  Journal Article
Deng, Y; Hillygus, DS; Reiter, JP; Si, Y; Zheng, S
Published in: Statistical Science
May 1, 2013

Panel studies typically suffer from attrition, which reduces sample size and can result in biased inferences. It is impossible to know whether or not the attrition causes bias from the observed panel data alone. Refreshment samples-new, randomly sampled respondents given the questionnaire at the same time as a subsequent wave of the panel-offer information that can be used to diagnose and adjust for bias due to attrition. We review and bolster the case for the use of refreshment samples in panel studies. We include examples of both a fully Bayesian approach for analyzing the concatenated panel and refreshment data, and a multiple imputation approach for analyzing only the original panel. For the latter, we document a positive bias in the usual multiple imputation variance estimator. We present models appropriate for three waves and two refreshment samples, including nonterminal attrition. We illustrate the three-wave analysis using the 2007-2008 Associated Press-Yahoo! News Election Poll. © Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 2013.

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Published In

Statistical Science

DOI

ISSN

0883-4237

Publication Date

May 1, 2013

Volume

28

Issue

2

Start / End Page

238 / 256

Related Subject Headings

  • Statistics & Probability
  • 4905 Statistics
  • 0104 Statistics
 

Citation

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Deng, Y., Hillygus, D. S., Reiter, J. P., Si, Y., & Zheng, S. (2013). Handling attrition in longitudinal studies: The case for refreshment samples. Statistical Science, 28(2), 238–256. https://doi.org/10.1214/13-STS414
Deng, Y., D. S. Hillygus, J. P. Reiter, Y. Si, and S. Zheng. “Handling attrition in longitudinal studies: The case for refreshment samples.” Statistical Science 28, no. 2 (May 1, 2013): 238–56. https://doi.org/10.1214/13-STS414.
Deng Y, Hillygus DS, Reiter JP, Si Y, Zheng S. Handling attrition in longitudinal studies: The case for refreshment samples. Statistical Science. 2013 May 1;28(2):238–56.
Deng, Y., et al. “Handling attrition in longitudinal studies: The case for refreshment samples.” Statistical Science, vol. 28, no. 2, May 2013, pp. 238–56. Scopus, doi:10.1214/13-STS414.
Deng Y, Hillygus DS, Reiter JP, Si Y, Zheng S. Handling attrition in longitudinal studies: The case for refreshment samples. Statistical Science. 2013 May 1;28(2):238–256.

Published In

Statistical Science

DOI

ISSN

0883-4237

Publication Date

May 1, 2013

Volume

28

Issue

2

Start / End Page

238 / 256

Related Subject Headings

  • Statistics & Probability
  • 4905 Statistics
  • 0104 Statistics