| Abstract |
In this paper we introduce the methodology to set up a panel that combines the new technology of web surveys with a true longitudinal design. Not many long running scientific panels in Europe and the US are Internet panels. Leading scientific panels mostly use face-to-face or telephone interviews to collect data. On the other hand, Internet interviewing has become a widespread method for access panels and volunteer panels. However, they are not true panels in the scientific sense. In a “true” panel, a set of repeated measures is collected at regular intervals (for example: every year) from the same group of people. Most access panels and other commercial Internet panels collect varying, non-recurring measures at irregular intervals from a choice of panel members. Thus, the –usually very large– panel is treated as a pool for cross-sectional measures instead of a longitudinal panel. Furthermore, a “true” panel demands a probability sample to start with, covering the whole population of interest and thus including people without internet access and people who do not actively volunteer to answer questions. Finally, it demands a long-term participation of the original sample members.
It is very well possible to combine the scientific standards for a “true” longitudinal panel with the advantages of Internet interviewing as method of data collection. We will show how such a panel can be built and maintained, taking a new Dutch panel as illustration: the LISS (Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences) panel administered by CentERdata (Tilburg University, The Netherlands). |
