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Exhaustive or Exhausting? Evidence on Respondent Fatigue in Long Surveys

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Listed:
  • Dahyeon Jeong
  • Shilpa Aggarwal
  • Jonathan Robinson
  • Naresh Kumar
  • Alan Spearot
  • David Sungho Park

Abstract

Living standards measurement surveys require sustained attention for several hours. We quantify survey fatigue by randomizing the order of questions in 2-3 hour-long in-person surveys. An additional hour of survey time increases the probability that a respondent skips a question by 10-64%. Because skips are more common, the total monetary value of aggregated categories such as assets or expenditures declines as the survey goes on, and this effect is sizeable for some categories: for example, an extra hour of survey time lowers food expenditures by 25%. We find similar effect sizes within phone surveys in which respondents were already familiar with questions, suggesting that cognitive burden may be a key driver of survey fatigue.

Suggested Citation

  • Dahyeon Jeong & Shilpa Aggarwal & Jonathan Robinson & Naresh Kumar & Alan Spearot & David Sungho Park, 2022. "Exhaustive or Exhausting? Evidence on Respondent Fatigue in Long Surveys," NBER Working Papers 30439, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30439
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. David Sungho Park & Shilpa Aggarwal & Dahyeon Jeong & Naresh Kumar & Jonathan Robinson & Alan Spearot, 2021. "Private but Misunderstood? Evidence on Measuring Intimate Partner Violence via Self-Interviewing in Rural Liberia and Malawi," NBER Working Papers 29584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Ambler, Kate & Herskowitz, Sylvan & Maredia, Mywish K., 2021. "Are we done yet? Response fatigue and rural livelihoods," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    6. Rachid Laaja & Karen Macours, 2021. "Measuring Skills in Developing Countries," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(4), pages 1254-1295.
    7. Abay, Kibrom A. & Berhane, Guush & Hoddinott, John F. & Tafere, Kibrom, 2021. "Assessing response fatigue in phone surveys: Experimental evidence on dietary diversity in Ethiopia," IFPRI discussion papers 2017, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ambler, Kate & Herskowitz, Sylvan & Maredia, Mywish K., "undated". "Rural Labor and Long Recall Loss," Staff Paper Series 316616, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    2. Brunckhorst,Ben James & Kim,Yeon Soo & Cojocaru,Alexandru, 2023. "Tracing Pandemic Impacts in the Absence of Regular Survey Data: What Have We Learned from the World Bank’s High-Frequency Phone Surveys?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10585, The World Bank.
    3. Galiani, Sebastian & Gertler, Paul & Navajas-Ahumada, Camila, 2022. "Trust and saving in financial institutions by the poor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    4. Abate, Gashaw T. & Abay, Kibrom A. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Sebsibie, Samuel, 2024. "Measuring land rental market participation in smallholder agriculture can survey design innovations improve land market participation statistics?," IFPRI discussion papers 2255, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Marion Dupoux & Benjamin Ouvrard, 2024. "Harnessing social information to improve public support for Pigouvian taxes," Working Papers 2024-05, Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory (GAEL).
    6. Peterson-Wilhelm, Bailey & Schwab, Benjamin, 2024. "How does recall bias in farm labor impact separability tests?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    7. Beegle, Kathleen & Dillon, Andrew & Karlan, Dean & Udry, Christopher, 2024. "Introduction to the journal of development economics special issue on methods and measurement," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    8. Abay, Kibrom A. & Ayalew, Hailemariam & Terfa, Zelalem & Karugia, Joseph & Breisinger, Clemens, 2025. "How good are livestock statistics in Africa? Can nudging and direct counting improve the quality of livestock asset data?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    9. Crépon, Bruno & Elsayed, Ahmed & Gazeaud, Jules, 2025. "Unbiased and Accurate: Measuring Sensitive Outcomes Through Ballot-Bag Surveys," IZA Discussion Papers 18072, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Hope Michelson, 2025. "Navigating the Measurement Frontier: New Insights Into Small Farm Realities," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 56(3), pages 526-542, May.
    11. Rebecca Walcott & Isabelle Cohen & Denise Ferris, 2024. "When Who Matters: Interviewer Effects and Survey Modality," Evaluation Review, , vol. 48(6), pages 1024-1049, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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