Mail Panels vs. General Samples: How similar and how different
Abstract:
Multi-purpose household panels, commonly referred to as "mail panels," offer several advantages for researchers: (1) response rates are generally quite high; (2) strong respondent cooperation facilitates true panel design studies (and diary studies) with relatively low rates of sample attrition; (3) customized samples can be selected "off the shelf" (or via inexpensive mail screening) including samples of low- incidence populations, saving screening costs; (4) samples can be nationally balanced (made demographically representative through quota sampling) on multiple variables; (5) much respondent and household background information needed for data analysis is already available, saving time or space in the survey; (6) use of panel samples facilitates otherwise very difficult or expensive data collection, such as national surveys of children, brand loyalty studies, conjoint measurement surveys requiring complex modes of questioning, and others.