| Abstract |
The world of survey research is rapidly changing, moving from face-to-face and telephone interviews to Internet interviewing. Several methods are used to attempt to survey the general public by Internet, including the use of volunteer and RDD samples. However, these methods may not fulfill the demands on coverage, sampling and response posed by scientific researchers. People in volunteer samples are often a rather selective part of the general population. In addition, because of vast increase of mobile-only households and declining response rates, RDD samples may not cover the population anymore.
A newly established Internet panel in the Netherlands uses a different design. A true probability sample of households drawn from a population register by Statistics Netherlands is contacted with a household in-person interview, asking respondents to join the panel. The panel provides a computer and internet connection to those households that could not otherwise participate. This paper presents an overview of this new panel concept and evaluates whether the design can offer a real alternative to the traditional panel survey methods and to volunteer Internet panels.
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