Pre-Trained Nonresponse Prediction in Panel Surveys with Machine Learning

Abstract

While predictive modeling for unit nonresponse in panel surveys has been explored in variouscontexts, it is still under-researched how practitioners can best adopt these techniques. Cur-rently, practitioners need to wait until they accumulate enough data in their panel to train andevaluate their own modeling options. This paper presents a novel “cross-training” techniquein which we show that the indicators of nonresponse are so ubiquitous across studies that itis viable to train a model on one panel study and apply it to a different one. The practicalbenefit of this approach is that newly commencing panels can potentially make better non-response predictions in the early waves because these pre-trained models make use of moredata. We demonstrate this technique with five panel surveys which encompass a variety ofsurvey designs: the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), the German Internet Usage Panel (GIP),the GESIS Panel, the Mannheim Corona Study (MCS), and the Family Demographic Panel(FREDA). We demonstrate that nonresponse history and demographics, paired with tree-basedmodeling methods, make highly accurate and generalizable predictions across studies, despitedifferences in panel design. We show how cross-training can effectively predict nonresponsein early panel waves where attrition is typically highest.